A film by Pulitzer prize-winning
Ukrainian journalist Mstyslav Chernov
20 Days in Mariupol
“A brave, visceral, merciless masterpiece…
Feels like a Cinematic Siege of the soul.”
Ed Vulliamy, The Guardian
In theaters this July Watch the Trailer
About the Film
An AP team of Ukrainian journalists trapped in the besieged city of Mariupol struggle to continue their work documenting atrocities of the Russian invasion. As the only international reporters who remain in the city, they capture what later become defining images of the war: dying children, mass graves, the bombing of a maternity hospital, and more.
After nearly a decade covering international conflicts, including the Russia-Ukraine war, for The Associated Press, 20 DAYS IN MARIUPOL is Mstyslav Chernov’s first feature film. The film draws on Chernov’s daily news dispatches and personal footage of his own country at war. It offers a vivid, harrowing account of civilians caught in the siege, as well as a window into what it’s like to report from a conflict zone, and the impact of such journalism around the globe.
Press
Screenings
Upcoming
- Lunenburg Doc Fest, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, CanadaSeptember 21, 2023 - September 27, 2023More Info
- Homer Documentary Film Festival, Homer, AKSeptember 21, 2023 - September 28, 2023More Info
- Ukrainian Film Festival LondonSeptember 24, 2023More Info
- One Cinema at The Roxy, Potsdam, NYSeptember 25, 2023More Info
- Ukrainian Film Festival LondonSeptember 26, 2023More Info
- Ukrainian Film Festival LondonSeptember 27, 2023More Info
- Zurich Film Festival, Zurich, SwitzerlandSeptember 29, 2023 - September 30, 2023More Info
- IFI Documentary Film Festival, Dublin, IrelandOctober 1, 2023Tickets
- Zurich Film Festival, Zurich, SwitzerlandOctober 5, 2023More Info
- Bertha DocHouse, London, EnglandOctober 6, 2023 - October 12, 2023More Info
- Human Rights Film Festival Berlin, Berlin, GermanyOctober 11, 2023 - October 12, 2023More Info
- Cornell Cinema, Ithaca, NYOctober 13, 2023More Info
- Gateway Film Center, Columbus, OHOctober 13, 2023 - October 15, 2023More Info
- Human Rights Film Festival Berlin, Berlin, GermanyOctober 14, 2023More Info
- Loft Cinema, Tucson, AZOctober 14, 2023More Info
- Watershed - Bristol, EnglandOctober 17, 2023More Info
- Loft Cinema, Tucson, AZ - October 17October 17, 2023More Info
- Bergen International Film Festival, Bergen, NorwayOctober 18, 2023 - October 26, 2023More Info
- Human Rights Film Festival Berlin, Berlin, GermanyOctober 19, 2023More Info
- FotoFest at Holocaust Museum Houston, Houston, TXOctober 19, 2023More Info
- Cornell Cinema, Ithaca, NYOctober 21, 2023More Info
* Denotes filmmakers in attendance for Q&A
Past Screenings
- Sundance Film Festival, Park City, UTJanuary 19, 2023 - January 29, 2023More Info
- Denver Documentary Society, Denver, COMarch 10, 2023 - March 11, 2023More Info
- CPH: DOX, Copenhagen, DKMarch 15, 2023 - March 26, 2023More Info
- Cleveland Int’l Film Festival, Cleveland, OHMarch 22, 2023 - April 1, 2023More Info
- Sarasota Film Festival, Sarasota, FLMarch 24, 2023 - April 2, 2023More Info
- MSP Int’l Film Festival, Minn-St. Paul, MNApril 13, 2023 - April 27, 2023More Info
- Milwaukee Film, Milwaukee, WIApril 20, 2023 - May 4, 2023More Info
- IFFBoston, Boston, MAApril 26, 2023 - May 3, 2023More Info
- HotDocs, Toronto, CanadaApril 27, 2023 - May 7, 2023More Info
- DOXA Documentary Festival, Vancouver, CanadaMay 4, 2023 - May 14, 2023More Info
- DOC AVIV, Tel Aviv, IsraelMay 10, 2023 - May 20, 2023More Info
- Beldocs, Belgrade, SerbiaMay 10, 2023 - May 17, 2023More Info
- Seattle Int'l Film Festival, Seattle, WAMay 11, 2023 - May 21, 2023More Info
- DocEdge, Wellington, New ZealandMay 24, 2023 - June 18, 2023More Info
- Oslo Dokumentarkino, Oslo, NorwayMay 31, 2023 More Info
- Berkshires Film Festival, Great Barrington, MAJune 1, 2023 - June 4, 2023More Info
- Sheffield DocFest, Sheffield, EnglandJune 14, 2023 - June 19, 2023More Info
- DC/DOX, Washington, DCJune 15, 2023 - June 18, 2023More Info
- Mykolaichuk OPEN, Chernivtsi, UkraineJune 15, 2023 - June 20, 2023More Info
- Encounters DocFest, Johannesburg, South AfricaJune 22, 2023 - July 2, 2023More Info
- Film Forum, New York, NYJuly 14, 2023 - August 3, 2023Tickets
- Film Forum, New York, NYJuly 14, 2023 *Tickets
- Gene Siskel, Chicago, ILJuly 14, 2023 - August 3, 2023Tickets
- Film Forum, New York, NYJuly 15, 2023 *Tickets
- Film Forum, New York, NYJuly 16, 2023 *Tickets
- Coolidge Corner, Boston MA (one night only)July 17, 2023 *Tickets
- Gene Siskel, Chicago, ILJuly 18, 2023 *Tickets
- Laemmle Monica, Santa Monica, CAJuly 21, 2023 - July 26, 2023Tickets
- Laemmle Monica, Santa Monica, CAJuly 21, 2023 *Tickets
- Hot Docs Cinema, Toronto, CanadaJuly 21, 2023 - July 26, 2023Tickets
- Roxie Theater, San Francisco, CAJuly 21, 2023 - July 29, 2023Tickets
- RED Cinemas, Greensboro, NCJuly 21, 2023 - July 26, 2023More Info
- Roxie Theater, San Francisco, CAJuly 22, 2023 - July 21, 2023*Tickets
- Smith Rafael Film Center, San Rafael, CA(one night only)July 23, 2023 *Tickets
- Sarasota Film Society, Sarasota, FLJuly 28, 2023 Tickets
- Hyland Cinema, London, ON, CanadaAugust 11, 2023 - August 17, 2023More Info
- Oxnard Film Society, Oxnard, CA (one day only)August 14, 2023 More Info
- The Film House, St. Catharines, Canada (one day only)August 24, 2023 Tickets
- Alice Gill-Sheldon Theatre, Sedona, AZAugust 25, 2023 - August 31, 2023More Info
- SIFF Film Center, Seattle, WAAugust 25, 2023 - August 31, 2023Tickets
- CCA Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NMAugust 25, 2023 - August 31, 2023More Info
- Kan-Kan Cinema, Indianapolis, INAugust 25, 2023 - August 31, 2023More Info
- Film Stream’s Dundee Theatre, Omaha, NEAugust 25, 2023 - August 31, 2023More Info
- SPACE Gallery, Portland, ME (one day only)August 30, 2023 More Info
- The Ryder, Bloomington, IndianaSeptember 8, 2023 - September 10, 2023More Info
- DMZ Docs, Gyeonggi-do, South KoreaSeptember 14, 2023 - September 21, 2023More Info
- Ukrainian Film Festival, London, EnglandSeptember 14, 2023 More Info
- The Ryder Bloomington, IndianaSeptember 15, 2023 - September 17, 2023More Info
- Macao International Documentary Festival, Macao, ChinaSeptember 17, 2023 More Info
- Ukrainian Film Festival, London, England September 17, 2023 More Info
- Millikin University, Decatur, ILSeptember 19, 2023 Tickets
- Carlisle Theater, Carlisle, PASeptember 20, 2023 More Info
- Macao International Documentary Festival, Macao, ChinaSeptember 22, 2023 More Info
- Carlisle Theater, Carlisle, PASeptember 22, 2023 More Info
- Haskell Opera House, Derby Line, VTSeptember 22, 2023 More Info
- Ukrainian Film Festival LondonSeptember 22, 2023 More info
Filmmakers
Mstyslav Chernov is a Pulitzer Prize-winning video journalist at The Associated Press and president of the Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers.
Since joining AP in 2014, he has covered major conflicts, social issues and environmental crises across Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Most recently, Chernov documented Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Together with longtime colleague Evgeniy Maloletka, Chernov recorded the siege of Mariupol, showing the world eyewitness accounts of the Russian attacks on the city.
Chernov’s courageous reporting in Mariupol earned the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. He was named 2016 Camera Operator of the Year and 2015 Young Talent of the Year by the UK’s Royal Television Society.
He is from Eastern Ukraine and is based in Germany.
Vasilisa Stepanenko is a Pulitzer Prize-winning AP video journalist from the eastern city of Kharkiv, Ukraine, whose work focuses on issue of human rights and social justice, especially related to the war in her country. She graduated from Kharkiv State Academy of Culture. She has worked for the Kharkiv Post and the television network Simon.
Stepanenko has worked with Mstyslav Chernov and Evgeniy Maloletka since before the start of the Russia-Ukraine war, when she realized that it would be crucial –and more difficult than ever –to provide accurate information from eastern Ukraine. Starting in Kharkiv –the hometown of both her and Chernov –the team realized that Mariupol would be the first key to the war.
They arrived hours before the first rockets landed and were the only journalists working for an international news organization to stayin the city for more than two weeks, leaving just ahead of the Russian takeover of the city center. Since then, Stepanenko has reported from Lviv and Kharkiv as well.
Evgeniy Maloletka is a Pulitzer Prize-winning Ukrainian photojournalist covering the Russia-Ukraine war for The Associated Press.
Alongside AP video journalist Mstyslav Chernov and field producer Vasilisa Stepanenko, Maloletka documented the fall of Mariupol and served as the only international media inside the besieged city. The team’s reporting in Mariupol earned the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.
Maloletka started his career in 2009 as a staff photographer for local Ukrainian news agencies UNIAN and PHL. He went on to cover the 2014 Ukrainian Revolution, and the conflicts in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine, for various international media outlets. His work has been published and aired in TIME, The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN and BBC, among others. Maloletka is from Eastern Ukraine and is based in Kyiv.
Michelle Mizner is an Emmy-winning documentary producer and film editor on staff at FRONTLINE PBS. Her work for the series has been recognized by the Peabodys, World Press Photo, duPont-Columbia Awards, and SXSW. Select titles as a producer and editor include Life in Baghdad (2015) and Inside Yemen (2017), with correspondent Martin Smith, and The Last Call (2020) with director Marcela Gaviria. In addition to films, Mizner has produced several acclaimed interactive documentaries, including Inheritance (2016), The Last Generation (2018), and Un(re)solved. (2021). She is the producer and editor of the documentary 20 Days in Mariupol (dir. Mstyslav Chernov) which will premiere at Sundance in 2023. 20 Days in Mariupol is her first feature-length film.
Raney Aronson-Rath is the editor-in-chief and executive producer of FRONTLINE, PBS’ flagship investigative journalism series, and is a leading voice on the future of journalism. Aronson-Rath oversees FRONTLINE’sacclaimed investigative reporting on air and online and directs the series’ editorial vision —executive producing more than 20 in-depth documentaries each year on critical issues facing the country and the world. FRONTLINE has won every major award in broadcast journalism under Aronson-Rath’s leadership, including Emmy Awards, the first Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Gold Baton to be awarded in a decade, and the series’ first-ever Peabody Institutional Award. Aronson-Rath has also expanded FRONTLINE’s theatrical documentary footprint, with the series earning its first-ever Academy Award nomination for Abacus: Small Enough to Jail in 2018 and its second in 2020 for For Sama. Aronson-Rath joined FRONTLINE’s staff as a senior producer in 2007 after producing notable FRONTLINE documentaries including News War, The Last Abortion Clinic, The Jesus Factor, Law & Disorder, and Post Mortem. She was named deputy executive producer by the series’ founder, David Fanning, in 2012, became executive producer in 2015, and namededitor-in-chief and executive producer in 2022. Before FRONTLINE, Aronson-Rath worked at ABC News and The Wall Street Journal. She earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin and her master’s from Columbia Journalism School.
Derl McCrudden is on the editorial management team of The Associated Press and oversees global production at the news agency. For the first few months of the 2022 invasion of Ukraine he worked as part of the team deploying journalists to cover the war and directing editorial coverage. He joined AP in 2010 where his prior roles include overseeing visual and digital journalism, and he was also head of newsgathering for international video. Previously in broadcast journalism, McCrudden worked at British news provider ITN inLondon in a range of roles from foreign affairs producer to news editor –later he was a program editor producing primetime flagship news bulletins. He covered the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the British military intervention in Sierra Leone in 2000 and thedevastating earthquake in Pakistan in 2005, as well as breaking news stories around the world. He joined the launch team of Al Jazeera English in 2006 where he oversaw news coverage and production for the network from its Asia broadcast center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Jordan Dykstrais a Brooklyn-based composer and performer specializing in both film and concert music. Besides scoring 20 Days in Mariupol, his past features include Blow the Man Down(2019), Globes(2021), Ovid, New York (2022), andEcho(2022). He contributed toFair Play(2023),Hail Satan?(2019),It Comes at Night(2017), andRestless(2011). He has scored and contributed to several FRONTLINE films, includingPlot to Overturn the Election(2022), the Emmy Award-winningdocumentary DocumentingHate(2018-20), Michael Flynn’s Holy War(2022), and many additional short films. His compositions for film have been heard at Cannes, Sundance, TriBeCa, TIFF, and the IFFR, among others. Dykstra’s chamber music has beenheard extensively throughout Europe, North America, and Asia and recordings of his music (solo and collaborative) have been issued by New World Records, Domino, Milan, Marriage, Mexican Summer, and many more.
Gallery
Contacts
Press Contacts
NEW YORK
Cinetic Marketing & PR
Charlie Olsky
charlie[at]cineticmedia.com
917.545.7260
LOS ANGELES
David Magdael PR
David Magdael
dmagdael[at]dmagpr.com
213.399.1434
SAN FRANCISCO
Karen Larsen Associates
Karen Larsen
karen[at]larsenassc.com
415.957.1205
LONDON
Christelle + Co
Christelle Randall
christelle[at]christellerandall.com
415.957.1205
Distribution Contacts
US
PBS Distribution
Sara Giustini
theatrical[at]pbs.org
INTERNATIONAL
Dogwoof
Cleo Verger, Sales
cleo[at]dogwoof.com
Luke Brawley, Festivals
luke[at]dogwoof.com
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PBS DISTRIBUTION presents a FRONTLINE PBS and THE ASSOCIATED PRESS production 20 DAYS IN MARIUPOL
Music by
Jordan Dykstra
Still Photography By
Evgeniy Maloletka
Edited By
Michelle Mizner
Field Produced By
Vasilisa Stepanenko
Produced By
Mstyslav Chernov, Michelle Mizner, Raney Aronson-Rath, Derl McCrudden
Written, Filmed, and Directed By