Denmark has gone for politics over drama and comedy in its Oscar selection, choosing David Borenstein’s Sundance award-winning documentary Mr. Nobody Against Putin as its pick to represent the country in the 2026 Oscars in the best international feature category.
The film, which won the World Cinema documentary special jury prize at Sundance, follows a primary school teacher in Russia who pushed back against Putin’s propaganda, covertly recording how the regime uses misinformation and agitprop to brainwash a generation of future military conscripts in its ongoing war against Ukraine.
The selection committee picked Borenstein’s documentary over two higher-profile contenders: Anders Thomas Jensen’s dark comedy The Last Viking, starring Mads Mikkelsen and Nikolaj Lie Kaas and Jeanette Nordahl’s melodrama Beginnings with Trine Dyrholm and David Dencik.
Mr. Nobody Against Putin was co-directed by Pasha Talankin and produced by Helle Faber for Made in Copenhagen. DR Sales are handling international rights.
Denmark is a regular contender at the Oscars, most recently with Magnus von Horn’s The Girl with the Needle, which secured a nomination last year in the best international feature category. Four Danish films have won the Oscar: Thomas Vinterberg’s Another Round, Susanne Bier’s In a Better World, Bille August’s Pelle the Conqueror and Gabriel Axel’s Babette’s Feast.
