An unflinching and relentless documentary bearing witness to the horrors of war
On the eve of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, a team of Ukrainian Associated Press journalists enter the port city of Mariupol. For three weeks, they document a city under attack. Residents are slaughtered, electricity is cut. Medicine, food, and water are scarce, and the shelling continues. Sheltering in a hospital, the team struggles to continue their work but want the world to bear witness.
A brutal and gut-wrenching documentary about Russia’s siege of Ukraine. The film pulls together Mstyslav Chernov’s daily news dispatches and personal footage to chart a harrowing account of the civilians and medics caught in a conflict zone.
The screening of the documentary film 20 DAYS IN MARIUPOL, will be followed up by a panel on human rights, press freedom and mis- and disinformation, with the participation of H.E. Ms. Anne Goedert (Ambassador-at-large for human rights at the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, Luxembourg), Guilherme Canela de Sousa (Chief of the section of Freedom of Expression and Safety of Journalists at UNESCO headquarters in Paris), Rosa Brignone (Founder and President of Time for Equality), and Misch Pautsch (Journalist & Photojournalist, Journal.lu).
Accessible from 18 and over
Moderation: Marian Blondeel (Head of Benelux & EU Desk, United Nations Regional Information Centre in Brussels)
World Cinema Audience Award for Documentary, Sundance Film Festival 2023, 2023, us
Zurich FF 2023, 2023, af
Most Valuable Documentary of the Year, Cinema for Peace, 2023, de
Greg Gund Memorial Standing Up Award, Cleveland International Film Festival, 2023, us
Mstyslav Chernov
Born 1985 in Kharkiv, Mstyslav Chernov is an award-winning Ukrainian videographer, journalist and war correspondent. After first building his reputation as a documentary photographer, he transitioned to conflict and war reporting in 2013. He began working as a staff journalist for the Associated Press in 2014 and received the Young Talent of the Year award from the Royal Television Society for his coverage of the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 crisis. In 2023, he received a Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.
