The Ukrainian film 20 Days in Mariupol has been shortlisted for an Oscar
Ukrainian documentary film “20 Days in Mariupol” directed by Mstislav Chernov has been shortlisted for an Oscar.
The list of has been published on the Oscar website.
The film was nominated in two categories at once: “Documentary Feature and International Feature. The final nominees for the 96th Academy Awards will be announced on January 23, 2024. The ceremony will take place on March 10 at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood.
In the Best Documentary Film category, 167 films were eligible for the nomination, but only 15 were shortlisted. The shortlist also includes In the Rearview, a film about the evacuation of Ukrainians at the beginning of a full-scale war by Polish director Maciek Hamela. It was co-produced with Ukraine.
The shortlist for the Best Documentary category is as follows:
- American Symphony
- Apolonia, Apolonia
- Beyond Utopia
- Bobi Wine: The People’s President
- Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy
- The Eternal Memory
- Four Daughters
- Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project
- In the Rearview
- Stamped from the Beginning
- Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie
- A Still Small Voice
- 32 Sounds
- To Kill a Tiger
- 20 Days in Mariupol
Films from 88 countries and regions participated in the Best International Film nomination.
The shortlist includes 15 films:
- Armenia, Amerikatsi
- Bhutan, The Monk and the Gun
- Denmark, The Promised Land
- Finland, Fallen Leaves
- France, The Taste of Things
- Germany, The Teachers’ Loungs
- Iceland, Godland
- Italy, Io Capitano
- Japan, Perfect Days
- Mexico, Totem
- Morocco, The Mother of All Lies
- Spain, Society of the Snow
- Tunisia, Four Daughters
- Ukraine, 20 Days in Mariupol
- United Kingdom, The Zone of Interest
The film “20 Days in Mariupol” was created by international journalists of the Associated Press who stayed in the occupied Mariupol. They captured footage that later became the defining images of the war: the deaths of children, mass graves, a bombed-out maternity hospital, and other horrors of Russian crimes.
“20 Days in Mariupol” is the directorial debut of the war correspondent (with experience in Syria, Nagorno-Karabakh, Libya, Iraq, Gaza, Afghanistan), photographer, videographer and writer Mstislav Chernov.
Also involved in the creation of the film were photographer Yevhen Malolietka and producer and journalist Vasylisa Stepanenko. For their work in besieged Mariupol, all three received the Pulitzer Prize, which is considered the most prestigious award in journalism.
