'Mr Nobody Against Putin' filmmaker loses Oscar at airport
What's the story
Pavel Talankin, co-director and protagonist of the Oscar-winning documentary Mr Nobody Against Putin, has reportedly lost his Academy Award. The incident occurred when a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agent at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport stopped him from carrying the statuette as a carry-on on his flight to Germany. The TSA agent claimed that the Oscar could be used as a weapon.
Incident details
Efforts to explain situation to TSA agent were in vain
Despite attempts by Talankin and the film's executive producer, Robin Hessman, to reason with the TSA agent, their efforts were unsuccessful. "Pavel didn't have a bag to check it in, so the TSA put the Oscar in a box and sent it to the bottom of the plane," shared David Borenstein, Talankin's co-director on Instagram. However, upon arrival in Frankfurt, Germany, the Oscar was nowhere to be found.
Investigation underway
Lufthansa Airlines is conducting a 'comprehensive internal search'
Lufthansa Airlines, which helped pack the Oscar in a box for the flight, is now treating the matter with "the utmost care and urgency" and conducting a "comprehensive internal search" to locate the missing statuette. They expressed regret over the situation in a statement.
Past experiences
'This wouldn't have happened to Leonardo DiCaprio': Hessman
Hessman, the executive producer of the BBC documentary, revealed that Talankin has previously traveled with his Oscar and BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) awards without any issues. She expressed disbelief over this incident, stating, "This wouldn't have happened to Leonardo DiCaprio." The documentary Mr Nobody Against Putin chronicles the increasing war propaganda in a Russian school after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.