“People are shocked by what they saw” — Mstislav Chernov about “20 days in Mariupol”

For the first time, two Ukrainian documentaries — both about the war — took part in America’s largest independent film festival, Sundance. One of them is “20 days in Mariupol” directed by Mstislav Chernov. Along with Associated Press colleagues Yevhen Maloletka and Vasilisa Stepanenko, they were the only journalists to document what happened in Mariupol in the first 20 days since the full-scale invasion.

Voice of America journalists spoke with Chernov about how the American audience perceives the film, and why it is important for Ukrainians to see this film.

The premiere at Sundance took place on January 20, how did the audience react to the film?

We have already had 3 screenings — full halls, all tickets sold out, a lot of tears, a lot of anger, a lot of questions: why, what to do, how to help. I think my team and I even have to calm the audience down because they are shocked. They say that they had seen 30 seconds to a minute of those videos before, but they never put it together in one picture, they didn’t see the scale of destruction and suffering. I hope that this film will find a new large audience, and more people will want to help Ukraine, more people will know what is really happening.

Tell us how you got to Mariupol, how you filmed and how you took the footage out of the city?

Like many other journalists, we already understood on the 23rd that the invasion would probably begin the next day. We were in Bakhmut and in the evening we decided to move to Mariupol. We drove along the front line and it was quiet—unusually quiet. We arrived about an hour before the full-scale invasion. Then Mariupol was quickly surrounded and it so happened that all the international journalists went to Kyiv, because it was believed that the main battle was there. Our team—me, Yevhen Maloletka, and producer Vasylisa Stepanenko—decided to stay until the end and continue doing what we were doing. During these 20 days that we spent in Mariupol, we shot a lot of footage that went around the world, for example, footage of the maternity hospital. All the videos that the world saw from Mariupol in the first days of the invasion were taken by me, and the photos were taken by Yevhen Maloletka.

Is there any hope that these footage can change public opinion in the West, showing the real actions of Russia in Ukraine?

Then I was able to send about 40 minutes of the 30 hours I recorded from Mariupol. We took out hard drives with all these materials, literally broke through 15 Russian checkpoints. When I made this film, I hoped that people would be able to see the wider context — it’s a story about a city, about people. This is a lot of pain, but also hope. I hope that this will inspire the international audience to do more and not forget – it is almost a year since the full-scale invasion and nine years into this war.

How does the Ukrainian audience react when they watch these painful shots?

When there was a show in Salt Lake City, Ukrainians from Mariupol sat in the first row. And they cried and said, “Thank you for showing this.” For many – and for me too – re-watching these shots is very painful. But I believe that this will be better for Ukrainian society. Pain and suffering make us stronger. When Ukrainians will watch it, it will give energy and effort to continue fighting. Because Mariupol is a very important symbol for Ukraine.

You exposed Russian propaganda and the Russians called your work “informational terrorism” – how do you feel about this?

This is in the film – how waves diverge in the global information space, how propaganda works. But as a journalist of an international agency, I try to distance myself from any controversies. Our job is not to argue with anyone, but to show everything we see. Everything that really is.