One of the films nominated at this year’s Academy Awards is Mr. Nobody Against Putin, a documentary that takes viewers inside a small Russian school to reveal how war propaganda reshapes education from within.
The film follows a teacher who is required to film daily patriotic sessions under new Kremlin directives. Instead of merely complying, he turns his camera into a tool of resistance, documenting the indoctrination, militarization, and psychological pressure unfolding in his own workplace.
But this is not the first time documentary cinema has examined the clash between artistic freedom, individual conscience, and political power in Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
Another essential film in this conversation is Pussy Versus Putin, available now on GuideDoc. While Mr. Nobody Against Putin captures quiet resistance inside a classroom, Pussy Versus Putin portrays open, performative protest in the public sphere.
Two different strategies. One political landscape.
Directed by David Borenstein and Pavel Talankin, Mr. Nobody Against Putin centers on Pasha Talankin, a teacher and school videographer in Karabash, a struggling mining town of roughly ten thousand residents near the Ural Mountains.
Following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Russian authorities introduced mandatory patriotic education policies. Schools were required to organize daily events supporting the war and to adopt a state written curriculum that justified the invasion. Institutions also had to upload video evidence of compliance to a government portal.
This bureaucratic obligation became Talankin’s cover.
While officially documenting patriotic assemblies, he secretly recorded staff meetings, classroom discussions, and student ceremonies. Over two years, he amassed hundreds of hours of footage that reveal how an educational institution gradually transforms into an ideological apparatus.
The documentary shows the normalization of militarized discourse, the recruitment of graduating students, and the emotional toll on teachers and families. What begins as reluctant compliance evolves into an act of moral defiance.
The film premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Special Jury Award in the World Cinema Documentary section. It later received an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary Feature, placing it at the center of the international conversation about political nonfiction cinema.
Critics have praised its unprecedented access and the courage of its protagonist, who ultimately fled Russia after signs of police surveillance suggested his safety was at risk.
More than a decade earlier, Pussy Versus Putin documented a different form of resistance under the same political regime.
This award winning documentary follows the feminist punk collective Pussy Riot as they confront Vladimir Putin’s conservative government through guerrilla performances, public interventions, court trials, and prison footage.
From early street actions on a Moscow trolley bus to their controversial performance inside a cathedral, the film captures the escalation of state repression. Two members were sentenced to two years in a labor camp, turning the group into an international symbol of artistic dissent.
Without heavy narration or didactic commentary, the filmmakers assemble raw material that places viewers at the heart of the legal and cultural confrontation. The result is a stark portrait of a divided Russia, where artistic provocation collides with institutional authority.
The documentary won the NTR IDFA Award for Best Mid Length Documentary at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, confirming its global resonance.
Viewed together, these documentaries form a powerful diptych about dissent in modern Russia.
Pussy Versus Putin represents visible, confrontational protest carried out in public spaces.
Mr. Nobody Against Putin portrays embedded, strategic resistance unfolding within state institutions.
One unfolds in courtrooms and city squares.
The other unfolds in classrooms and staff meetings.
Both reveal how political power permeates daily life, and how individuals decide whether to comply, resist, or document history as it happens.
If you want to better understand the cultural and political environment surrounding this year’s Oscar nominated documentary, start with Pussy Versus Putin on GuideDoc.
Discover this powerful film and explore more award winning documentaries about art, freedom, and political resistance on GuideDoc today.
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