Academy Award winner Pavel Talankin’s Oscar has been found after he lost it while flying out of New York. The co-director and star of Mr. Nobody Against Putin said the award had disappeared after he boarded a flight at New York City’s JFK airport on Wednesday morning. The Russian told Deadline that he’d tried to bring the statuette in his carry-on, but it was confiscated by the Transportation Security Administration, which said it posed a safety threat, and then vanished. The 2026 Best Documentary Feature winner filmed Lufthansa agents bubble-wrapping it and handing him a tag, then taking it off to transport it on his flight. “It’s completely baffling how they consider an Oscar a weapon,” the 35-year-old said. “[I] flew with it in the cabin and there never was any kind of problem.” Thankfully, airline Lufthansa now says it has found the Oscar. “The Oscar statue has now been located and is safely in our care in Frankfurt,” Lufthansa told Variety, adding it would be returned “as quickly as possible.” “We sincerely regret the inconvenience caused and have apologized to the owner. The careful and secure handling of our guests’ belongings is of the utmost importance to us.” Talankin fled Russia and now lives in Europe, taking with him footage that would form the basis of the documentary, which shows how a school thrust military recruitment propaganda on students during the invasion of Ukraine.
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