On the Media A Win For Mr. Nobody!
Mar 18, 2026
Pasha Talankin, a high school teacher and co-creator/star of the documentary Mr. Nobody Against Putin, filmed state-directed lessons in his Russian school. He talks about organizing student filmmaking, government curriculum scripts and monitoring, symbolic classroom acts of dissent, encounters with Wagner visitors, and the risks that led him to leave his hometown.
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Teacher Secretly Documented Indoctrination Lessons
- Pasha Talankin filmed school events and kept footage after the 2022 invasion to document state-directed lessons.
- He recorded scripted classes that taught Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus are one people and that Ukraine was being "Nazified."
Surveillance Turned Propaganda Into Performance
- The state required schools to film lessons to prove teachers followed scripted propaganda, creating a surveillance loop.
- Pasha's blackout test showed no oversight: nobody flagged missing middle footage, revealing performative compliance.
Personal Archive Preserved Family Repression Stories
- Pasha recorded family stories about relatives repressed under Stalin, preserving oral history on a flash drive for future generations.
- He felt compelled to capture his mother's cemetery stories because he feared they would be lost.