May 1, 2026

Word to the wise: You might not want to pack your Oscar in your carry-on bag.

Mr. Nobody Against Putin co-director Pavel Talankin’s Oscar statuette recently went missing during his travels back home to Europe from JFK airport. He apparently put his award in his carry-on, but was stopped by TSA. The Oscar then disappeared.

According to the documentary’s director, David Borenstein, who posted about the ordeal on Instagram, TSA ended up confiscating the statuette because “it could be used as a weapon.” “Pavel didn’t have a bag to check it in, so the TSA put the Oscar in a box and sent it to the bottom of the plane,” Borenstein added. The director claimed that the airline Lufthansa lost the Oscar as “it never arrived in Frankfurt.”

Now, Lufthansa has confirmed the Oscar’s safe arrival in the German city. “The Oscar statue has now been located and is safely in our care in Frankfurt,” the airline told the BBC. “We sincerely regret the inconvenience caused and have apologised to the owner. The careful and secure handling of our guests’ belongings is of the utmost importance to us.” They also said that the award will be returned to Talankin “as quickly as possible.”

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In his original post, Borenstein questioned why Talankin needed to check the statuette at all. “I’ve looked and I can’t find a single other case of someone being forced to check an Oscar. Would Pavel have been treated the same way if he were a famous actor? Or a fluent English speaker?” he asked.

It’s definitely a strange occurrence. Since the pair won the Oscar for Best Documentary feature at the 2026 Oscars March, Talankin has been proudly parading his statuette out and about. Earlier this year, he was seen posing with the award in Paris.