Missing Oscar Statuette Found in Germany After JFK Airport Dispute
Lufthansa said the 8.5-pound statuette was found and is in its care after TSA agents required it to be checked as luggage.
- On Wednesday, JFK Airport TSA agents forced filmmaker Pavel Talankin to check his 8.5 lb Oscar statuette as luggage before his Lufthansa flight to Germany, but the award went missing upon arrival in Frankfurt.
- Talankin, who has flown a dozen times with the trophy without incident, was told by TSA officials the 13.5-inch Oscar could be used as a "weapon." Co-director David Borenstein described the airport ordeal as a "big scene."
- Executive producer Robin Hessman questioned why the award was treated differently, arguing the situation "wouldn't have happened to Leonardo DiCaprio." TSA overruled Lufthansa staff's proposal to store the statuette in the cockpit.
- Lufthansa confirmed the missing Academy Award has been located in Frankfurt and is running a "comprehensive internal search," working to return the trophy as quickly as possible.
- Winning Best Documentary Feature at the 98th Academy Awards, the film "Mr. Nobody Against Putin" examines propaganda in Russian schools, while Talankin, living in exile, was designated a "foreign agent" by Russian authorities.
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“You can’t carry this with your hand luggage. It could be used as a weapon.” One of the Oscar 2026 winners received on Wednesday, April 26, that comment from a Transportation Security Agency (TSA) agent while at JFK Airport in New York making the boarding procedures for the flight that was to take him to the German city of Frankfurt. The security officer pointed to the golden statuette that Russian director Pavel Talankin received on March 15 as…
Oscar Winner's Statuette Found by Airline After TSA Dispute Causes It to Go Missing in Checked Luggage
Filmmaker Pavel “Pasha” Talankin was traveling internationally with his Oscar statuette for this year's Best Documentary Feature film 'Mr Nobody Against Putin' when TSA forced the trophy to be checked claiming it was a potential security concern. It then went missing, but has since been found, a spokesperson for Lufthansa tells PEOPLE.
German airline Lufthansa said on Friday it had apologized to Russian filmmaker Pavel Talankin for the loss of his Oscar statuette.
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