Oscar-winning filmmaker Pavel Talankin has lost his Academy Award after U.S. airport security forced him to check the prized statuette into an aircraft’s hold, BBC reports.
The director, who won the Best Feature Documentary accolade for his film Mr Nobody Against Putin, was travelling from New York’s John F Kennedy International Airport to Germany on Wednesday. He initially packed the golden trophy in his hand luggage, but staff from the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) intervened and ruled that the heavy award could potentially be used as a weapon.
As the exiled Russian filmmaker did not have any hold luggage, staff from Lufthansa airlines stepped in to help pack the statuette into a secure box. Video footage reviewed by the BBC shows airline workers securing the Oscar using bubble wrap and tape. However, upon Talankin’s arrival in Germany, the award was missing.
Airline launches internal search
Lufthansa has since issued a statement expressing «deep regret» over the disappearance.
Robin Hessman, the executive producer of the BBC documentary, assisted Pavel Talankin over speakerphone during the airport dispute because he does not speak fluent English. She revealed that the director had previously taken numerous domestic and international flights with both his Oscar and his Bafta without encountering any security issues.
A symbol of defiance
An Academy Award statuette weighs 8.5lb (3.9kg), stands 13.5 inches (34cm) tall and typically costs between $400 and $1,000 to manufacture. As the co-director and main subject of his documentary, Talankin frequently travels with the trophy to share his success with audiences. During his recent trip to New York, he even passed the statuette around a university audience during a post-screening Q&A session.
Mr Nobody Against Putin chronicles the rapid escalation of state war propaganda within a Russian school where Talankin previously worked shortly after the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Fearing for his safety, Pavel Talankin now lives in exile elsewhere in Europe. The Russian government has subsequently banned the documentary from three streaming platforms after accusing the film of propagating terrorism and extremism.
