The documentary film "20 Days in Mariupol" by Ukrainian director Mstyslav Chernov became the first film from Ukraine to win an Oscar.
The film was recognized as the best full-length documentary film.
Photojournalist Yevhen Maloletka and producer Vasylisa Stepanenko, who together with the director worked in Mariupol surrounded by occupiers in 2022, took the stage for the award with Chernov. The director gave a speech that was called the strongest speech at the ceremony:
"Thank you to everyone who helped create this film and accompanied me on this journey. This is the first ʼOscarʼ in the history of Ukraine. It is an honor for me. But Iʼll probably be the first director on that stage to say, ʼI wish Iʼd never made this movie.ʼ If I could change it. So that Russia never attacks Ukraine, never occupies our cities. I would give everything to prevent Russia from killing tens of thousands of my fellow Ukrainian citizens. I would like to see all the hostages released, all the soldiers defending their lands and all the civilians currently in their prisons. I canʼt change history. I canʼt change the past. But... Everyone of us, all of us in this hall, the most talented people in the world, can make the truth prevail. And the people of Mariupol and those who gave their lives will never be forgotten. Because cinema creates memories. And memories form history. Thank you all. Thank you Ukraine. Glory to Ukraine!"
Even before the Oscar, the film "20 Days in Mariupol" received many awards and world recognition. The film was awarded the Audience Award at the main independent film festival Sundance in 2023. For this film, its creators (Yevhen Maloletka, Mstyslav Chernov and Vasylisa Stepanenko) also won the Shevchenko Prize — the most prestigious award for their contribution to the development of culture and art in Ukraine.
American film critics named the film the best in the nominations "Directorʼs Debut" and "Political Documentary" at the Criticsʼ Choice Documentary Awards.
The tape became the highest-grossing documentary film in Ukraine, collecting 500 000 hryvnias only for the first weekend of release. Mstyslav Chernov also received an award from the Directors Guild of America.
During the BAFTA Awards in London, Chernov, all in black, also spoke about Mariupol: “The history of Mariupol is a symbol of everything that was, a symbol of struggle, a symbol of faith. Letʼs continue the fight."
About the film "20 days in Mariupol"
The film tells the story of the first weeks of fighting in Mariupol during a full-scale Russian invasion.
Director and photographer Mstyslav Chernov, photographer Yevhen Maloletka and producer and journalist Vasylisa Stepanenko worked on the film. They became the last journalists who covered the beginning of the destruction of Mariupol by Russia — for this, all three received the Pulitzer Prize.