We invite you to the premiere screening of the Pulitzer Prize-winning film by Mstyslav Chernov
The event will take place on August 27th at 6:30 PM. After the screening, the audience will have the opportunity to discuss the film with photojournalist Mstyslav Chernov.
Location: "Planeta Kino" at the "Forum Lviv" shopping center (Pid Dubom Street, 7b). Admission to the screening is free, but registration in advance is required. The number of seats in the auditorium is limited.
"This film is a tribute to the thousands of people who perished in Mariupol"
After the full-scale invasion began in February 2022, Mstyslav Chernov, along with his colleagues from the Associated Press, photographer Evgeniy Maloletka and producer Vasilisa Stepanenko, were the only foreign media correspondents working in the besieged city of Mariupol. They arrived in the city on February 24th at 3:30 in the morning.
The team documented how the Russians shelled Mariupol, how they demolished buildings, including maternity wards, and how they killed civilians. Mstyslav Chernov portrays life in the city day by day, and his voice behind the scenes complements the visuals.
After 20 days, the journalists managed to leave and evacuate all the recorded materials.
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The Director Who Revealed Mariupol to the World During the Russian Siege
This film marks the directorial debut of Mstyslav Chernov, a war correspondent, photographer, videographer, and writer. He has covered the Revolution of Dignity, the war in Eastern Ukraine, the aftermath of the Boeing 777 crash, the Syrian civil war, the battle for Mosul in Iraq, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Currently, Mstyslav Chernov collaborates with the Associated Press news agency.
"My task is to show, record, photograph, and film everything I see. Where it will be used later, whether in a news story, a film, or a court case, is not for me to decide. But a film provides the opportunity, first of all, to provide a broader context. And when you expand the context, there is less room for manipulation. Because the information war, as they call it, is not about the right to show something; it's about interpretation. When you give the audience more context, there is less room for interpretation or manipulation," said Mstyslav Chernov in an interview with The Village Ukraine.
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International Recognition
The world premiere of "20 Days in Mariupol" took place at the independent film festival in the USA, "Sundance" in 2023, where the film received the Audience Sympathy Award.
In May of this year, the film's creators were honored with the Pulitzer Prize. Later, Mstyslav Chernov won the main prize of the National Competitive Program "Docu/Ukraine" and the Audience Sympathy Award at the 20th anniversary Docudays UA festival.
In one of his interviews, Chernov confessed, "Right now, '20 Days in Mariupol' is being showcased at festivals in different countries. The voices of Ukrainians are heard all around the world. But it's especially important to present the film in Ukraine because it's about Ukrainians, about everyone who lost something in this war. This film is a tribute to the thousands of people who perished in Mariupol.
For our team, it's an honor to represent Ukrainian documentary films to draw attention to the challenges, resilience, and courage of the Ukrainian people, especially the residents of Mariupol."
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Additionally, the film received awards in Israel, New Zealand, Germany, and the United Kingdom. On the Rotten Tomatoes platform, the film has a 100% rating and the "Certified Fresh" designation, which is given to films with the best reviews. The rating on IMDb is 8.5, and on Metacritic, it has 83 points with a "must-see" label.
The film screening will take place as part of LMF Talks, a series of public events organized by the NGO "Lviv Media Forum" with the support of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). The event featuring Mstislav Chernov became possible through collaboration with "ArtHouse Traffic."
If you have any questions or partnership proposals, please contact us at: info@lvivmediaforum.com.