- The most recent winner of the Oscar for Best Documentary, Pavel Ilyich Talankin, will visit Valencia to receive the Peace and Justice Award from the Foundation for Justice and present his film 'Mr. Nobody vs. Putin' at the Humans Fest
- On May 29th, the documentary will be screened at the Filmoteca Valenciana, with the presence of the film's co-director David Borenstein and assistant director Katya Kize.
- The Valencia International Film and Human Rights Festival will hold its 2026 edition from May 28 to June 6
Valencia, April 29, 2026.The Valencia International Film and Human Rights Festival, Humans Fest, announces its honorary award: the Peace and Justice Prize 2026 It will be for the Russian professor and videographer Pavel Ilyich Talankin. The recently Oscar winner As co-director of the documentary 'Mr. Nobody vs. Putin,' he will receive the award on May 28th during the opening ceremony of the 17th Humans Fest, which will be held at the MuVIM starting at 5:00 PM. This will mark the start of the festival's current edition, whose program will run until June 6th.
Pavel Ilyich Talankin will visit Valencia from May 28 to 31, accompanied by the documentary filmmaker and co-director of the film David Borenstein and assistant director Katya Kize, the directing team responsible for the documentary ‘'Mr. Nobody Against Putin'. The film, winner of the Oscar for Best Documentary at the last edition of the Hollywood Academy Awards, will be shown at the Valencian Film Library on Friday, May 29th in a screening that will include a discussion with the team.
Humans Fest, the festival of the Foundation for Justice, thus recognizes Talankin's work in defending the rights of children and young people, central theme of this year. An edition whose program will call for action without excuses to defend, protect and guarantee the rights of new generations.
Until the documentary's premiere, Professor Talankin worked as a teacher and videographer at a primary school in the small village of Karabash, Chelyabinsk, in the Ural region of Russia. There he documented how the Russian government transformed classrooms into veritable machines of patriotic propaganda, turning them into recruitment centers for soldiers to be mobilized to the Ukrainian front.
He captured and narrated the process in the film 'Mr Nobody Against Putin', which premiered at Sundance and won the BAFTA award for best documentary before winning the Oscar in its category. However, international recognition has been accompanied by exile.Putin's government declared him a 'foreign agent' and added him to its blacklist in March of this year. The documentary's distribution in Russia was, in fact, banned by a court ruling that argued it "conveys a negative attitude toward the Russian government and the special military operation." Talankin has lived in the Czech Republic ever since.
The Peace and Justice Prize, awarded by the Foundation for Justice within the framework of the festival, Its objective is to recognize the career of a person or entity in the audiovisual field linked to the defense and dissemination of Human Rights. Previous recipients of the award include documentary filmmaker Hernán Zin, the Red Carpet Human Rights Film Festival (Palestine's first film and human rights festival), director Isabel Coixet, and filmmakers Waad Al-Kateab and Josefina Molina. Actors, producers, and filmmakers such as Abdelatif Hwidar, Pepe Viyuela, Silvia Munt, Juan Diego Botto, Montxo Armendáriz, and Puy Oria, among others, have also received the award.
The award recipients are characterized by their lifelong dedication to giving voice and raising awareness about groups whose rights are systematically violated. Their careers are marked by a commitment to filmmaking focused on international cooperation, healthcare, education, the justice system, the prison system, and the defense of human rights.
Humans Fest is part of the international Human Rights Film Network, along with 52 other human rights film festivals worldwide, and is a qualifying festival for the Goya Awards in the Short Film category. The 17th edition is made possible thanks to the Valencian Institute of Culture of the Valencian Government; the Institute of Cinematography and Audiovisual Arts (ICAA); the Valencia Provincial Council; Caixa Popular; the Valencian NGO Coordinator (CVONGD); and the collaboration of the Ministry of Social Services, Family and Childhood, Directorate General for Inclusion and Development Cooperation, and Teika. The Valencian regional broadcaster, À Punt, is the festival's official media partner.
HUMANS FEST PRESS CONTACT:
FRANCESC MIRÓ (+34 690 659 855)
humansfestcomunicacion@fundacionporlajusticia.org