The feature-length documentary film "20 Days in Mariupol" by Ukrainian journalist, writer and director Mstyslav Chernov became one of the winners of the 47th International Film Festival in Cleveland (Ohio, USA). The documentary about the blockade of Mariupol and the crimes of the Russians received a prize in the "Standing Up" category, where films about important social events, activism, and the fight for justice compete. This is already the second American award for Chernov's debut film — in January 2023, "20 Days in Mariupol" won the Audience Award at the largest independent film festival in the United States, Sundance. The film also won the Cinema for Peace Award (Berlin, Germany) in the "Best Documentary" category. In addition, the film received two awards of the prestigious Royal Television Society 2023 journalistic award (Great Britain) in the nominations "International News Coverage" and "Exclusive of the Year", and personally Mstyslav Chernov - in the nomination "Operator of the Year". Also, the award in Cleveland in the category "Films from Central and Eastern Europe" was won by the feature film "Pamfir" by Dmytro Suholytkyy-Sobchuk.

"20 Days in Mariupol" was produced by Chernov, Associated Press and Frontline and tells how Mariupol experienced the first weeks of the Russian invasion. Mstyslav Chernov, along with photographer Evgeniy Maloletka and producer Vasilisa Stepanenko, arrived in Mariupol on February 24, an hour before the start of the invasion, as an Associated Press team. They recorded everything that was happening in the city, including the humanitarian disaster caused by the siege, mass burials of civilians, crimes by Russian troops, the work of doctors, and were the first to show the world the consequences of the bombing of maternity hospital No. 3. Chernov and Maloletka sent the media files, which were later watched by the whole world, hiding under the stairs near the crushed grocery store - from the only place in Mariupol where cell service was possible. On March 15, the AP team left Mariupol through the humanitarian corridor. The video footage that Chernov took out of Mariupol became the basis of the documentary.

"The work of Mstyslav Chernov and his colleagues in documenting the siege of Mariupol was nothing less than heroic," — said AP Senior Vice President and Executive Editor Julie Pace. — "Without their courageous coverage of violence and carnage, the world would not have seen what was happening."

The documentary, from the materials of the Ukrainian journalist, was created by the team of Frontline — the longest documentary film program in the history of the United States. It is broadcasted on the PBS channel (USA). Since its inception, Frontline has won 104 Emmy Awards.

"The award of the film festival in Cleveland means that the history of Ukrainians, the history of resistance, tragedies and pain does not leave anyone in the world indifferent," says the author of "20 Days in Mariupol" Mstyslav Chernov — The goal of this film is to continue reminding people around the world of the sacrifices that Ukrainians make every day in this titanic struggle against aggressors."

The European premiere of the film took place at the Copenhagen Documentary Film Festival CPH:DOX. According to Mstyslav Chernov, the film is planned to be shown at the largest North American documentary film festival Hot Docs (Canada) and the Doc Aviv International Documentary Film Festival (Israel). "20 Days in Mariupol'' can be seen in US cinemas in July 2023. And the Ukrainian premiere will take place in the summer of 2023.

For their work in Mariupol, Mstyslav Chernov, Evgeniy Maloletka and Vasilisa Stepanenko have already received many international awards: the Livingston, Rory Peck, Royal Television Society, DW "For Freedom of Speech" awards, Bayeux Calvados-Normandy, The Gongadze Award, Knight International Journalism, Press Freedom Awards 2022, the Elijah Parish Lovejoy award and became "journalists of the year" according to "Ukrainska Pravda". In March 2023, Evgeniy Maloletka's photos from Mariupol became the best at the European stage of the World Press Photo international award.

References:

The Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF) is an annual film festival in Cleveland (Ohio, USA). Founded in 1977, in 46 years, it has grown its program from 7 to more than 300 films from dozens of countries. The audience of the festival reaches 100,000 visitors annually.

Mstyslav Chernov is a Ukrainian videographer, photojournalist, director, military correspondent and writer, currently working for the Associated Press. President of the Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers. Covered the Revolution of Dignity, the War in Eastern Ukraine, the aftermath of the downing of the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777, the Syrian Civil War, the Battle of Mosul in Iraq, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Chernov's material has been published and broadcast by many media outlets around the world, including CNN, the BBC, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and others.

 

• Mstyslav Chernov’s Wikipedia page
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