98th Academy Awards - Show
Gloria Cazares, from left, Joshua Seftel, Conall Jones, and Steve Hartman accept the award for documentary short film for "All the Empty Rooms" during the Oscars on Sunday, March 15, 2026, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
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“Mr. Nobody Against Putin” has won the Oscar for best documentary feature. The film’s central figure and co-director is a teacher and activities director in a small-town school in Russia. He captures Vladimir Putin’s propaganda and patriotism program for the nation’s youth after the invasion of Ukraine. Pavel Talankin smuggled the footage he’d shot out of the country and collaborated on the documentary with American director David Borenstein. The two men gave the night some of its most overtly political moments during their speeches. It’s the second film in three years about the Russia-Ukraine war to win the documentary feature Oscar.
