The Danish-Czech documentary follows a courageous teacher who goes undercover to expose the insidious origins of propaganda in Russian schools.

Last week, the 2025 Sundance Film Festival (23 January-2 February) has come to a close. As per tradition, the Utah-based event’s core revolved around four main competitions, distinguishing between documentaries and fiction films, as well as US and international titles. On 31 January, The Ray Theatre in Park City hosted the awards ceremony, where both juried and audience prizes were announced.

This year’s edition saw one Nordic win. In detail, David Borenstein’s Mr. Nobody Against Putin snagged the Special Jury Award of the gathering’s World Cinema Documentary Competition. The documentary is supported by Nordisk Film & TV Fond.

The Danish-Czech doc, produced by Helle Faber and co-produced by Radovan Síbrt, Alžběta Karásková, and Petra Dobešová, follows a courageous teacher who goes undercover to expose the reality within his own school. As Russia launches its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, primary schools across the country’s hinterlands become recruitment grounds for the war, forcing educators to navigate the ethical dilemma of working within a system driven by propaganda and violence.

Pavel Talankin served as the project’s co-director and DoP.

The jury, made up of Daniela Alatorre, Laura Kim, and Kevin Macdonald, awarded Borenstein’s pic “for the courageous act of documenting the insidious origins of propaganda in Russian schools and for showing us how easy it is to use misinformation to manipulate”.

Other prominent winners with European involvement included World Cinema Dramatic Competition entries DJ Ahmet by Georgi M. Unkovski (Audience Award and the Special Jury Award for Creative Vision), The Things You Kill by Alireza Khatami (Best Directing) and World Cinema Documentary Competition titles Cutting Through Rocks (Ozak ulalar) (Grand Jury Prize) by Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eyni, and Coexistence, My Ass! by Amber Fares and Rachel Leah Jones (Special Jury Award for Freedom of Expression).

Finally, Hailey Gates’ war satire Atropia secured the Grand Jury Prize in the US Cinema Dramatic Competition, whilst Brittany Shyne’s Seeds received the same honour in the US Documentary Cinema Competition.

To the full list of 2025 Sundance Film Festival award winners: CLICK HERE.

To the Nordic films in Sundance: CLICK HERE.