In the mining town of Karabash, Russia, propaganda doesn’t arrive with jackboots. It comes laminated and stapled, slipped quietly into a school curriculum on the eve of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Pavel “Pasha” Talankin (imagine your favorite theater or English teacher with the cool, arty office) was the beloved videographer at Primary School #1, spending years documenting student life. When the curriculum shifted, the Russian Ministry of Education sent filming instructions, detailed down to the minute. Every lesson scripted. Every child’s reaction choreographed. They even provided a shot list. Pasha followed it. And documented a slide into fascism up close, as teachers struggled to pronounce “denazification” and began indoctrinating the children with an absurd level of nonsense. I nearly expected banners saying “War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.” to be unfurled. Fresh off a BAFTA win, Mr. Nobody Against Putin is mordantly funny and genuinely terrifying. When a new treason law threatened Talankin with prison, he kept filming. When trailed by police, he kept filming. He ultimately sacrificed his life in Russia and smuggled the footage out. He now lives in exile in the Czech Republic. The terrain feels uncomfortably familiar in the USA. We need more people with moral courage. More Mr. Nobodys.
March 14 & 16-18 at the Belcourt
2102 Belcourt Ave.
