David Borenstein

David Borenstein (born 1984) is an American documentary filmmaker. He is known for Mr Nobody Against Putin, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film as co-director.

Education Borenstein was born in 1984. He graduated from the University of Florida in 2009 with degrees in Chinese and political science. He then received a Fulbright U.S. Student Scholarship to China.

Career Borenstein began his career in radio broadcasting and directed his first feature film, Dream Empire, in 2016. He spent ten years in China working on the film, shooting documentaries about the fringes of Chinese society. For this work, he received several nominations and won the Golden Alexander for Best Documentary at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival.

He is the co-director of the documentary Mr Nobody Against Putin, released in 2025.

The Danish Film Institute described his film Can't Feel Nothing as one that "constructs a tapestry of human stories across four continents, depicting a world where our emotions are commodified and instrumentalized with ruthless efficiency."

Borenstein has argued that propaganda operates not only through state media but also through institutions such as schools. Critics have noted that Mr. Nobody Against Putin depicts how authoritarian structures take hold in everyday life.

In addition to his feature films, Borenstein directs and produces broadcast documentaries for public broadcasters including PBS, notably for the series NOVA, and for BBC World Service. For NOVAs Decoding COVID-19, he filmed inside Wuhan during the early stages of the pandemic; the production later received a duPont–Columbia Award. For NOVAs Inside China's Tech Boom, he filmed inside Huawei's offices as the company responded to U.S. sanctions.

Upcoming projects Following the success of Mr. Nobody Against Putin, Borenstein is developing a new feature documentary titled Living in Our Heads, in collaboration with producer Helle Faber and the Danish company Made in Copenhagen. He intends to continue working with American public broadcaster PBS, particularly its science series NOVA. Activism In his acceptance speech for the Academy Award for Mr. Nobody Against Putin, Borenstein drew parallels between Putin's Russia and Trump's America. Backstage, he told reporters that his Russian colleagues warned him the situation in America was "actually happening quicker" and that "Trump is moving a lot quicker than Putin in his early years."

In April 2026, Borenstein signed an open letter opposing the $110 Billion Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Skydance merger and joined a protest outside the company's New York headquarters. In an interview with NPR, he said that for filmmakers like him, "the house is already burning down" and urged continued opposition to the deal.

Awards

For Dream Empire (2016) Golden Alexander for Best Documentary – Thessaloniki International Film Festival

For Mr Nobody Against Putin (2025) Special Jury Award – Sundance Film Festival (2025) BAFTA Award for Best Documentary (February 2026) Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film (98th Academy Awards, March 2026) Filmography Year Title Notes Ref. 2015 Rent-a-Foreigner in China Short documentary; director, producer, writer 2016 Dream Empire Feature documentary; director, producer, writer 2021 Love Factory Short documentary; director, writer 2024 Can't Feel Nothing Feature documentary; director, writer 2025 Mr. Nobody Against Putin Feature documentary; co-director, producer, writer 2026 Living in Our Heads Feature documentary (in development); director