UPDATE: A spokesperson for Lufthansa tells Variety that the missing Oscar statuette belonging to Talankin has been located.
EARLIER: A rather unusual post-Oscar situation has emerged involving “Mr. Nobody Against Putin,” the documentary that won the 2026 Best Documentary Feature. Pavel Talankin, the film’s co-director and central figure, says the Oscar statuette he won for the film has gone missing.
For context, “Mr. Nobody Against Putin” follows Talankin, a Russian schoolteacher who works in school media and events and begins quietly filming changes in his school after the start of the war in Ukraine. As new government-directed programs and messaging are introduced into the education system, he records how daily school life shifts and how students and staff are affected, documenting what he describes as “propaganda.”
According to Talankin’s co-director, David Borenstein, who posted on Instagram, the issue began at JFK Airport, where TSA officers reportedly would not allow Talankin to bring the trophy onboard the aircraft, citing concerns that it could be used as a weapon. As a result, he was instructed to check the Oscar instead.
Talankin then placed the statuette in a box and documented the packing process before it was handed over for baggage handling. However, upon arriving at his destination in Europe, he discovered that the box containing the Oscar had disappeared, and its current whereabouts remain unknown.
Borenstein is now asking online sleuths to help track it down. He says he has looked into the issue and cannot find any record of someone being required to check an Oscar statuette at an airport. Maybe airport security footage might provide answers .. unless the cameras were somehow not recording that night.
Where could that Oscar possibly be?
