Mr. Nobody Against Putin won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature on 15 March in Los Angeles, giving Copenhagen-based producer Helle Faber and the company Made in Copenhagen a historic first in the category for a Danish-produced film.
The Oscar win that puts Copenhagen on the map
The documentary Mr. Nobody Against Putin won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, marking a major moment for Copenhagen’s production scene. The film was produced by Danish producer Helle Faber through Made in Copenhagen, in collaboration with the Czech company Pink.
The Academy credits David Borenstein, Pavel Talankin, Helle Faber and Alžběta Karásková among the winners in the category. The project is a Denmark-Czech Republic co-production, with Borenstein and Talankin directing the film.
The result is significant beyond the individual project. Danish media have described it as a first for a Danish-produced film in the documentary feature category. That gives the award a place in Danish film history, while also underlining Copenhagen’s role as a base for internationally relevant documentary production.
What Mr. Nobody Against Putin is about
Mr. Nobody Against Putin follows Pavel Talankin, a Russian school worker and videographer who documented how pro-war propaganda entered everyday school life after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Using footage recorded over two years, the film shows how authoritarian narratives were pushed onto children and how Talankin gradually moved from quiet discomfort to open resistance.
The film’s political message was clear in the acceptance speech. On stage, Talankin said that while some people look to the sky for shooting stars, in other places people see bombs and drones instead, before calling for all wars to stop.
The documentary had already built momentum before the Oscars through major festival exposure, including Sundance, where it was presented as a Denmark-Czech Republic production led by Borenstein and Talankin.
A Danish production with an international profile
The Oscar win reflects the increasingly international character of Nordic documentary filmmaking. Although the story is rooted in Russia’s war propaganda system, the production structure behind the film is anchored in Copenhagen, where Made in Copenhagen helped develop and produce the project.
This kind of cross-border collaboration has become a recurring feature of the Nordic audiovisual sector, where local production companies work with international directors, journalists and creative partners on stories designed for a global audience. In that sense, the success of Mr. Nobody Against Putin is both a film industry milestone and an example of how Danish producers are positioning themselves in politically relevant documentary storytelling.
