Ukraine made history tonight at the 96th Academy Awards by winning the award for Best Documentary with “20 Days in Mariupol,” a bittersweet recognition after two years of war against Russia.
The documentary was competing against “To Kill a Tiger,” “Four Daughters,” “Bobi Wine: The People’s President,” and “The Eternal Memory.”
“I will probably be the first director on this stage to say that I wish I had never made this film,” said documentary director Mstyslav Chernov upon receiving the prestigious award.
The director said he would trade the award if “Russia never attacks Ukraine, never occupies our cities,” and does not kill dozens of his fellow Ukrainians.
“Because film creates memories, and memories create history,” added the filmmaker, committing to telling the truth about the situation in his country amidst a standing ovation from the Oscar gala attendees.
“20 Days in Mariupol” documents the Russian siege of Mariupol in Donetsk Oblast from Chernov and his crew’s perspective during the first weeks of the large-scale invasion. The director, who is a photographer and photojournalist, was working for the Associated Press when Russia launched its total war against Ukraine.
The documentary consisted of 30 hours of footage that Chernov and his colleagues filmed in Mariupol before the team evacuated the besieged city. The director and his AP colleague, Vasylysa Stepanenko, arrived in Mariupol an hour before the Russian invasion on February 24.
Since its premiere in January 2023, the documentary has been crowned at the Sundance Film Festival, the International Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam, the Canadian Hot Docs Documentary Festival, and DocuDaysUA.
