Mstyslav Chernov’s 20 Days In Mariupol won the Bafta for Best Documentary during a ceremony held February 18 at the Royal Festival Hall in London. The award was presented by Canadian actress Taylor Russell.
Receiving the award Chernov said, “”This is not about us. This is about the people of Ukraine… the story of Mariupol is a symbol of everything that has happened, a symbol of struggle, a symbol of faith.”
In the film, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a team of journalists trapped in the besieged city of Mariupol struggle to continue their work documenting the war’s atrocities. Read the Business Doc interview with Mstyslav Chernov and review of the film.
Chernov has won a slew of awards for the film, including the Audience Award at the Sundance 2023 and the NPO IDFA Audience Award 2023.
The other nominees for the 2024 Bafta Best Documentary were American Symphony by Mathew Heineman; Beyond Utopia by Madeleine Gavin; Still: A Michael J Fox Movie by Davis Guggenheim, and Wham! by Chris Smith: The story of the eponymous pop phenomenon.
20 Days In Mariupol is also nominated in the Best Feature Documentary at the upcoming Academy Awards, which will be handed out March 10 2024. The other nominees are: Bobi Wine: The People’s President by Christopher Sharp/Moses Bwayo; The Eternal Memory by Maite Alberdi; Four Daughters by Kaouther Ben Hania, and To Kill a Tiger by Nisha Pahuja.
