Mr. Nobody Against Putin

The Oscar-winning documentary Mr. Nobody Against Putin, with a strong Czech involvement, reveals what everyday life in Russian society looks like after the government of the Russian Federation launched its full-scale military invasion of Ukraine. Amateur footage filmed by an inconspicuous schoolteacher shatters the official image promoted by Kremlin propaganda — the claim that nothing in ordinary life in Russia has changed and that everything continues in perfect normality. A quiet teacher from a small, remote industrial town in the Urals, who has spent years running a school film making club, suddenly captures —through his routine filming activities — a detailed picture of the introduction of wartime conditions and brainwashing methods that strongly resemble the Nazi practices of Europe in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Despite winning several prestigious international awards and gaining remarkable audience attention, the film is so powerful that even the Kremlin leadership fears it. At the end of March 2026, the Russian regime banned the film through a court decision, and anyone who even watches it will be considered a “terrorist”, according to the official ruling of a Russian court in Chelyabinsk. What can be so frightening for the Russian regime about amateur footage filmed in an ordinary school? Is life in Russia after the invasion of Ukraine really as normal as Russian propaganda is trying to convince audiences across Europe?