The Collective for Human Rights Respect organizes a new film debate around the movie “Mr Nobody against Putin” on Tuesday, May 5th, at the Le Relief cinema in Sélestat.
Talankin Pavel, a Russian employee of the national education system, produced a poignant documentary in 2025 by filming for two years the implementation of the military and nationalist program imposed in schools after the invasion of Ukraine.
Based on his work in a school in Karabash, a poor mining town in the Ural Mountains, Pavel shows how Putin uses schools to justify the war in Ukraine. When Putin officially launched his “special military operation” in February 2022 to invade Ukraine, disinformation was put in place.
” It’s not the military who win the war “
The teacher documented the militarization of Russian schools and society, filming the indoctrination of his students (his school, like all others in the country, implemented a militaristic program with revised history classes, patriotic songs, and demonstrations of anti-personnel mines orchestrated by Wagner’s mercenaries).
Putin’s administration’s message is clear: “It’s not the military who win the war, but the teachers.” Mr Nobody is thus “an ordinary gentleman,” an ordinary resident of an ordinary town. However, this striking glimpse into the reality of propaganda was realized at the risk of the teacher’s life, forcing him to flee the country in August 2024 with hard drives containing his videos.
The documentary directed by Talankin Pavel with American director David Borenstein received the award for Best Documentary Feature at the Oscars ceremony on March 15, 2026.
The hour and a half screening will be followed by a debate with the audience led by members of the CIDH and especially Albin Limousy, who is also a history teacher at Schwilgué High School.
Film debate around the movie “Mr Nobody against Putin” on Tuesday, May 5th at Le Relief cinema in Sélestat at 8:00 p.m.
