“Life has more imagination than us,” as Truffaut once said.

 

Today, on 15 March 2026, I feel that very strongly.

 

"Mr. Nobody Against Putin", the documentary I adapted for Arte, has just won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature in Los Angeles.

 

I am filled with pride and joy to have had the chance to work on such a courageous documentary — a film shaped by rare honesty, moral strength, and the quiet power of truth.

 

I am so grateful to the lab which entrusted me with the subtitling for their trust.

 

During the acceptance speech, David Borenstein said:

“Luckily, a nobody is more powerful than you think.”

 

That sentence resonates far beyond this moment.

 

It reminds us that cinema, like art, can illuminate, resist, bear witness — and sometimes help change the world for the better.

 

Bravo and thank you to David Borenstein for standing as a voice for the voiceless, and for recognising, through his words, the courage of people like Pavel Talankin, one of their most courageous representatives.

 

My heartfelt congratulations to Pavel Talankin. I am so happy for him, and deeply moved to see this powerful and necessary work receive the recognition it deserves.

 

As Pavel said, drones must give way to shooting stars.

 

He is one of them — a courageous light, showing the way forward.

 

Some films do more than tell a story.

 

They remind us what courage looks like. 

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"Mr Nobody against Putin" is one of them.