The film “20 Days in Mariupol” is going to the Oscars from Ukraine
Mstislav Chernov’s documentary 20 Days in Mariupol will represent Ukraine at the Oscars.
Today, the Ukrainian Oscar Committee has selected the film. It will compete with other contenders for the Best International Feature Film nomination.
“The film was selected by a vote of the members of the Ukrainian Oscar Committee, chaired by Valentyn Vasyanovych,” the committee said.
In addition to 20 Days, four other films participated in the national selection: “Iron Butterflies by Roman Liubyi, Pamphire by Dmytro Sukholytkyi-Sobchuk, Spoil Heaps by Taras Tomenko, and STTL by Adrien Walter.
“20 Days in Mariupol” is a documentary based on the materials filmed by war correspondent, photographer, videographer Mstyslav Chernov in the Russian-occupied Mariupol. The film consists of footage that Chernov and his colleagues sent from Mariupol to the world media, describing the events in the city: the deaths of children and adults, the creation of mass graves, a maternity hospital destroyed by a Russian air strike, and other Russian war crimes.
The film was created by photographer Yevhen Malolietka and producer Vasylisa Stepanenko. Together with Chernov, as part of the Associated Press crew, they were the only international journalists who remained in Mariupol and continued to document the crimes of the Russian Federation. For this work, Chernov, Malolotka, and Stepanenko received the Pulitzer Prize.
The audience will also see how the author of the film and his colleagues from the Associated Press managed to escape from the city surrounded by the occupiers.
