An Academy Award belonging to director Pavel Talankin has been located in Frankfurt, Germany, two days after it went missing during a trans-Atlantic flight, per cbc.ca.
The statuette was lost after a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agent at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport reportedly barred the director from carrying it onto the aircraft, claiming it could be used as a potential weapon.
The incident occurred on Wednesday as Mr Talankin, co-director of the Oscar-winning documentary Mr. Nobody Against Putin, attempted to board a flight to Frankfurt.
According to co-director David Borenstein, the filmmaker was forced to check the award as hold luggage. Because Mr Talankin did not have a suitcase for the item, security officials placed the gold statuette in a box for transit.
The award failed to appear on the luggage carousel upon the flight’s arrival in Germany, prompting an international search.
Lufthansa confirmed on Friday that the missing statue had been recovered and is currently being held at Frankfurt Airport. The airline issued a formal apology to Mr Talankin, stating that it is coordinating the personal return of the award as quickly as possible.
Lufthansa officials added that an internal review is currently underway to determine how the item became separated from its owner. The TSA has not yet commented on the decision to classify the award as a security risk.
The film Mr. Nobody Against Putin won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in March. The project was filmed in secret by Mr Talankin, a former Russian teacher who smuggled hard drives out of the country to document the domestic impact of the war in Ukraine.
The recovery ends a tense 48-hour period for the filmmakers, whose win was a highlight of the 2026 ceremony. The documentary has gained global recognition for its clandestine footage of Russian schoolrooms and its directors’ public calls for an end to international conflict.
•Featured image: Pavel Talankin/John Locher/Invision/The Associated Press
