Pavel Talankin has flown with his Oscar at least a dozen times since winning it in March — on US flights, on international connections, never a problem. Then he tried to leave New York.

On Wednesday, TSA agents at John F Kennedy International Airport’s Terminal 1 told the co-director of “Mr Nobody Against Putin” that his 8.5-pound golden statuette could be used as a weapon and could not travel in his carry-on bag. Talankin, who does not speak fluent English, called his executive producer Robin Hessman to help translate.

A Lufthansa agent offered to personally escort the Oscar to the gate or store it in the cockpit during the flight. TSA refused both proposals. So Lufthansa staff bubble-wrapped the statuette, packed it into a cardboard box, and checked it under the plane for the flight to Frankfurt. The BBC has viewed video of two agents taping the box shut.

When Talankin landed in Germany on Thursday morning, the box was gone.

Lufthansa said in a statement that it “deeply regrets this situation” and is conducting a “comprehensive internal search” to find and return the award.

“This wouldn’t have happened to Leonardo DiCaprio,” Hessman told the BBC.

“Mr Nobody Against Putin,” directed by David Borenstein and co-directed by Talankin, documents the escalation of war propaganda inside the Russian school where Talankin worked as a teacher after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Russia has banned the documentary from three streaming platforms, claiming it “propagates extremism and terrorism.” Talankin now lives in exile in Europe.

As for the Oscar, it remains unaccounted for. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences reportedly allows winners to request replacements in rare cases of loss or severe damage — though a replacement, one imagines, is not quite the same.

Sources