Editor’s note: The following story contains elements related to loss of life, violence and other graphic content.
When Associated Press (PA) journalists Mstyslav Chernov and Evgeniy Maloletka, as well as field producer Vasilisa Stepanenko, learned about the impending Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, they visited Mariupol. As a port city on the Sea of Azov comparable in size to Long Beach, California, Mariupol was of significant strategic importance to Russian troops and was quickly attacked within hours of the invasion. Contrary to Kremlin claims, civilians became the immediate target.
Co-produced by PA And Frontline|PBSthe feature film 20 days in Mariupol (2023) screening this month in New York and Los Angeles features raw documentation of life during the Russian siege of Mariupol, seen through the lens of PA video journalist Mstyslav Chernov.
Moving from makeshift bomb shelters to looted streets with burnt-out homes, the team documents how the city is rapidly deteriorating under the strain. The film follows the PA team as they document the desperate conditions, including the last functioning hospital tirelessly rescuing the injured amid dwindling resources. The Russians cut essential services such as electricity, water and food supplies, throwing the city into further chaos. Mobile phone connections eventually died out as the situation worsened, leaving Chernov and Maloletka as the city’s only international reporters under blockade.
Mstyslav Chernov, an experienced war correspondent and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, was surprised that the city was rapidly falling apart. “Now I know it was because of the lack of communication,” he shared during a panel after a preview of the film at Manhattan’s Film Forum on July 11.
Panic and despair grew among residents left in isolation and uncertainty, exacerbated by constant and indiscriminate air attacks, leaving nowhere to hide. One of them hit the maternity ward, where Chernov and Maloletka were capturing defining images of this war.
Knowing that Mariupol is surrounded, with no open green corridors for evacuation, and that the Russians have their names on the list, the crew struggles to leave the city to transmit their footage. Hiding their camera in the car seats, the team escapes through 15 Russian checkpoints. “We hid our SD card in our producer’s box of dabs,” Chernov told the talk.
As the situation grows increasingly grim for the team, Chernov’s narrative veers away from reportage into intimate reflections on the war and his role as a correspondent. Trying to balance the stiff journalistic tone of the footage with the emotionally overwhelming content, Chernov recorded a film voiceover with an iPhone mic. Opting for a “simple raw recording” rather than hi-res clarity, he feels it best suits the film’s tone of voice, making it “neither overly emotional nor distant”.
Accompanied by dark music composed by Brooklyn-based Jordan Dykstra, the film emerged victorious of the Sundance World Film Documentary Competition this year.
20 days in Mariupol opens July 14 at the Film Forum in New York and July 21 at the Laemmle Monica Film Center in Los Angeles.
