Videographer Pavel Talankin, who recently won an Oscar for his documentary Mr. Nobody Against Putinhas been designated by Russia as a ‘foreign agent’. His name appeared on a list posted online by the Russian Ministry of Justice on Friday, international news agencies report.
The law on ‘foreign agents’ in Russia stipulates that persons and organizations can be classified as foreign spies if, in the eyes of the Kremlin, they are involved in ‘anti-Russian activities’. According to Reuters, those who wear the label must mention this in social media posts, among other things, and face income restrictions and ‘heavy’ bureaucratic requirements.
35-year-old Talankin fled Russia in 2024. He worked as an event coordinator at the high school of Karabash, a provincial town in the Urals. In his documentary he records the effects of war propaganda on his school. That resulted, according to a review by NRCin “a weighty and moving portrait of an authoritarian society that becomes totalitarian within a few years, how fear creeps in and makes the atmosphere oppressive and gloomy.” Palankin is described as a “heroic fool” and “a hero of our times.”
Earlier this week, the documentary was banned by a judge in the region where Karabash is located. The film is said to contain “extremist symbolism” and to be “propaganda for terrorism”. The film must be removed from three online platforms, the judge ruled.
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