"20 Days in Mariupol" wins the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature Film

Los Angeles, USA (Svidomi) — "20 Days in Mariupol", a Ukrainian film by Mstyslav Chernov, has won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film.

"Probably I will be the first director on this stage who will say I wish I had never made this film. I wish to be able to exchange this for Russia never attacking Ukraine, never occupying our cities. I wish to give all the recognition to Russians not killing tens of thousands of my fellow Ukrainians," said the film's director, Mstyslav Chernov, during the award ceremony on March 11.

Chernov was in Mariupol as part of an Associated Press team, along with photographer Yevhen Malolietka and producer and journalist Vasylisa Stepanenko.

They were the last international journalists to remain in the city and document Russian war crimes in the besieged city. In particular, the film shows the bombing of the Mariupol maternity hospital on March 9, 2022.

The team won the Pulitzer Prize, the most prestigious award in journalism, for their work during the siege of Mariupol. In Ukraine, the journalists have won the Shevchenko Prize and the Georgiy Gongadze Prize.

In February, the film won the BAFTA Award for Best Documentary.

Svidomi is a media partner of the film's release.

"This is a memorial to those who did not survive in Mariupol." Mstyslav Chernov said in the interview with Svidomi.

Read the full interview with the director on our website.