A bizarre airport incident has left an Oscar statuette missing after officials allegedly intervened during a travel check involving one of the winners of the Academy Award.
Filmmaker David Borenstein says the award belonging to his co-director, Pavel “Pasha” Talankin, disappeared after being handled by Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents at New York’s JFK Airport. The pair had recently won Best Documentary Feature for Mr. Nobody Against Putin at the 2026 ceremony.
According to Borenstein, Talankin was traveling from New York to Frankfurt, Germany, carrying the Oscar statuette as hand luggage when airport security stopped him. He claims TSA officials considered the trophy a potential security risk and refused to allow it onboard as a carry-on item.
Borenstein said that after a failed attempt to resolve the issue, the statue was ultimately placed in a box and sent as checked baggage. However, the situation took a turn when the award reportedly did not arrive at its destination in Frankfurt.
He later shared images of a lost baggage slip and described the situation as frustrating and confusing, saying he could not find any record of similar cases involving Oscar trophies being checked in.
The airline involved has since responded publicly, saying they are taking the matter seriously and have launched efforts to locate the missing item.
The documentary at the center of the award follows Talankin’s work documenting life and political pressure inside Russia, with the filmmaker later leaving the country and receiving asylum in Europe.
As of now, the search for the missing Oscar continues, with both the filmmakers and airline officials working to track down the vanished statuette.#newsafro_
