“20 Days in Mariupol” brought Ukraine its first Oscar
The story of the 20 Days in Mariupol documentary film began a month before the russian invasion. It started not in Mariupol, but in Kharkiv, where the AP journalist Mstyslav Chernov and producer Vasylisa Stepanenko are from. Photographer Yevhen Malolietka also joined them there.
At first they filmed how the residents of Kharkiv reacted to the information about the possible outbreak of war. Sometime on the 20th of February the group went to the east, closer to the contact line. On February 23, they passed through Bakhmut and arrived in Mariupol before dawn on the 24th.
An hour after arrival, the Russian invasion began. The film crew continuously had been documenting the crimes of the occupants from that moment on for 20 days.
Very soon Chernov, Malolietka and Stepanenko were the only journalists in the city — All the rest had left. Communication means were practically absent. Police officer Volodymyr Nikulin suggested a place where it was still possible to catch a signal — near the half-ruined office of a mobile operator. This area was constantly shelled, but the journalists managed to send some of the materials that the whole world saw.
Mstyslav, Vasylisa and Yevhen did not manage to join the evacuation convoy. On March 15, they were taken out by policeman Nikulin in his own car together with his family. They hid the camera and flash drives with 30 hours of footage under the car seats.
The path of the future Oscar-winning documentary ran through 100 km of occupied territory and 15 Russian checkpoints.
20 Days in Mariupol brought Ukraine its first Oscar. “I wish we never had to make this film,” Mstyslav Chernov began his speech at the award ceremony.
It’s hard to be more precise.
