PARIS, March 17 — Tributes to Mr Nobody Against Putin poured in yesterday after Pavel Talankin, a videographer from a small-town Russian school, won an Oscar for his anti-Kremlin film and cemented his place in Hollywood history.

Netflix documentary The Perfect Neighbour had been widely tipped to win the top prize for best documentary feature.

But 35-year-old Talankin’s film — based on hours of footage he had smuggled out of Russia — beat the odds and took home the statuette on Sunday.