Overview

• The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January and won a prize for its 90-minute portrayal of military indoctrination in Russian schools.
• Pavel Talankin spent more than two years secretly filming drills, grenade-throwing contests and Wagner mercenary weapon demonstrations in his school in Karabach.
• Talankin left Russia in summer 2024 with seven hard drives of footage and now lives under administrative restrictions that prevent him from attending screenings.
• Critics have praised the documentary’s empathetic tone and use of absurd, surreal moments to reveal how the Kremlin’s program targets children with pro-war messaging.
• Talankin says he still possesses hours of unused recordings and plans to publish more footage to further expose the scope of the patriotic education program.