Denmark / Czech Republic 2025, 90 min, Russian, Hebrew & English subtitles
“Wars are not won by generals, but by schoolteachers.” When Vladimir Putin made this statement on the eve of Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine, the nation’s school system got the message and quickly realigned its values. However, Pasha Talankin, a teacher and school videographer in a small industrial town in the Ural Mountains, interprets the president’s words differently. Exploiting the new guidelines, he covertly documents the propaganda, the surge of nationalism and militarism aimed at the students’ ideological (and eventually physical) conscription, and the moral quandaries facing teachers like him, who wish to keep their integrity. Fearing for his safety, Pasha plots a perilous escape. This powerful, tragicomic documentary offers a rare, uncensored look at an ordinary man suddenly forced to become a double agent in service of the truth, follow his conscience, and disobey.
Previous Festivals: Sundance
