The New York Times Op-Docs Debuts ‘Stalin Boys’

The New York Times Op-Docs, the award-winning platform behind 2022 Academy Award winner "The Queen of Basketball" and 2025 nominee "Instruments of a Beating Heart," has debuted the short documentary "Stalin Boys" from directors Ora DeKornfeld and Bianca Giaever. Watch the film here.

"Stalin Boys" centers on Malachi, a middle school student obsessed with Joseph Stalin. When Malachi hears about the Texas History Day competition,he writes a play about the Soviet dictator and enlists his friends Cayden, Lyric and Jurem to act as civilians and henchmen.

The filmmakers spent a week with the four boys and their teachers during their frenzied rehearsals for the state competition. In a middle school with only 11 students in a town of about 400, the boys grapple with a dark history and are forced to confront the ideas of legacy and power in their own lives.

The filmmakers learned about the story when visiting their friend Crawford Hunt who was recruited to teach at the school. "Unexpectedly, we found ourselves in a room of middle schoolers as they grappled with major ideas and historical events - like communism and the rise of the Soviet Union - for the very first time," said DeKornfeld.

"Making this film reminded me of the teachers who have changed the course of my life, and how classrooms can become magical spaces where anything feels possible," said Giaever.

"Stalin Boys" has won the 2026 Indy Shorts Documentary Grand Prize and the 2026 SXSW Film & TV Festival's Audience Award in the Texas Short Competition.

Ora DeKornfeld is an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker who began her career as a video journalist at The New York Times. She directed the Emmy-nominated short "USA v SCOTT" (2020) and Oscar-qualified "The Grandfather Puzzle" (2026.) She is currently in production on a feature documentary about fixers in Mexico.

Bianca Giaever is an independent filmmaker and radio journalist. Her stories have appeared on "This American Life," "Radiolab," The New Yorker and The New York Times. She is the creator and host of the podcast "Constellation Prize." Her upcoming documentary series, "Free Help," premiered at Tribeca Film Festival and will be available next year.

Op-Docs, The New York Times's award-winning short documentary film series, is part of The Times's Opinion department. Featuring works by both renowned and emerging filmmakers, the collection of more than 400 short films has sparked global conversations, influenced national policies and garnered an array of industry distinctions, including Emmy Awards, Peabody Awards and an Oscar. The series is produced and curated by executive producer Alexandra Garcia and producer Yvonne Ashley Kouadjo.

Caroline Challe / [email protected]