An Academy Award statuette, which went missing after its recipient was required to check it as luggage at a New York airport, has been successfully located, according to the airline involved.
Oscar Incident at JFK Airport
Filmmaker Pavel Talankin stated that he had placed his Academy Award in his carry-on bag for a flight to Germany on Wednesday. However, security personnel at John F Kennedy International Airport (JFK) prevented him from boarding with it, citing concerns that the statuette could potentially be used as a weapon. Upon his arrival in Germany, the Oscar, awarded for his documentary “Mr Nobody Against Putin,” was discovered to be missing.
Airline Confirms Recovery
Lufthansa confirmed the statuette’s recovery, stating, “The Oscar statue has now been located and is safely in our care in Frankfurt.” The airline added that it is in direct communication with Talankin to facilitate the “quickest possible” return of the award. “We sincerely regret the inconvenience caused and have apologised to the owner,” Lufthansa stated. “The careful and secure handling of our guests’ belongings is of the utmost importance to us.” An internal review of the incident’s circumstances is currently underway.
The BBC reached out to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the agency responsible for airport security that prevented Talankin from carrying his Oscar in his cabin bag.
David Borenstein, co-director of the documentary, expressed relief to the BBC that the statuette had been found following the “big kerfuffle.” He recounted, “They just found this flimsy box and told him to put it in there… everyone was kind of saying, ‘this is an Oscar, why are you doing this?'” “It was a big scene,” Borenstein added, noting that the documentary’s executive producer, Robin Hessman, was on the phone “yelling at TSA saying, ‘you can’t do this’.” Hessman informed the BBC that she was on speakerphone with Talankin and TSA to assist, as Talankin is not a fluent English speaker. She highlighted that Talankin had flown numerous times with both his Oscar and his BAFTA, both awarded this year, across the US and on international routes, without previously encountering any issues bringing his Oscar onboard. “This wouldn’t have happened to Leonardo DiCaprio,” she remarked. The BBC has seen video footage showing Lufthansa staff carefully packing the Oscar into a box using tape and bubble wrap.
About the Filmmaker and Documentary
Talankin, who is both the co-director and protagonist of the Best Feature Documentary winner, frequently travels with the award to showcase it at various events and screenings. During his recent trip to New York, he shared the statuette with an audience of university students during a Q&A session following a screening of the documentary. An Academy Award statuette stands 13.5 inches (34 cm) tall and weighs 8.5 pounds (3.9 kg). Its creation reportedly costs between $400 and $1,000.
“Mr Nobody Against Putin” is a documentary filmed by Talankin, which chronicles the escalation of war propaganda in a Russian school where he was employed, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. For his personal safety, Talankin is now exiled from Russia and resides elsewhere in Europe. Russia has banned the documentary from three streaming platforms, citing that it “propagates extremism and terrorism.”
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