Oscar lost and found in transit: Labelled a 'potential weapon', statuette stowed in check-in baggage goes missing briefly

Russian director Pavel Talankin's Oscar statuette has gone missing after he was forced to check the award into hold language while travelling from New York to Germany, his co-director David Borenstein said on Thursday.

Talankin had won the award for the best documentary this year for Mr. Nobody Against Putin.

However, an airline spokesperson later added that the missing statuette has been found and is safely in the custody of Lufthansa.

"We can confirm that the Oscar statue ‌has now been located and is safely in our care in ⁠Frankfurt. We are in direct contact with the guest to arrange its personal return ‌as quickly as possible," a spokesperson for Lufthansa said.

"We sincerely regret the inconvenience ‌caused and have apologized to the owner. The ‌careful and secure handling of our guests’ belongings is of the utmost importance to us. An internal review of the circumstances is ongoing," the statement added.

The 35-year-old was to fly from the John F. Kennedy International Airport to Frankfurt on German carrier Lufthansa. However, Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents told him that the 8.5 lb (3.8 kg) was a potential security threat, alleged Borenstein.

"At ​the airport, a TSA ⁠agent stopped him and said the Oscar could be used as a weapon," Borenstein said on Instagram.

"Pavel didn’t have a bag to check it in, so the TSA put the Oscar ⁠in a ‌box and sent it to the bottom of the plane," he said, posting a series of pictures, ‌including of the box.

"It never arrived in Frankfurt."

Lufthansa has responded to Borenstein's post, saying it is taking the matter seriously.

"We deeply regret this situation," a company spokesperson told Reuters.

"Our team ‌is handling this matter with the utmost care and urgency ‌and we are conducting a comprehensive internal search to ensure ‌that the Oscar is found and returned as soon as possible.”

Talankin said it was "completely baffling how they ⁠consider an Oscar a weapon," while speaking to online magazine Deadline.com after arriving in Frankfurt.

On previous flights on various airlines, he had flown with it "in the cabin, and there never was any kind of problem," he told the outlet.

Mr. Nobody Against Putin, directed by Talankin and Borestein used two years of footage that Talankin recorded at a school where he worked in Russia's Chelyabinsk region, exposing how students were taught pro-war messaging.

Talankin, who fled Russia ​in 2024, has defended the ​film as a record for posterity to show how "an entire generation became angry and ​aggressive".