Documentary ‘20 Days in Mariupol’ by Ukrainian journalist, writer and director Mstyslav Chernov became one of the winners of the 47th Cleveland International Film Festival.

The documentary about the besieged Mariupol and Russian war crimes became a laureate in the Standing Up nomination, which includes films about important social events, activism and the struggle for justice, the Vogue informed.

This is the second award for ‘20 Days in Mariupol’ in the USA. In January, the documentary received the Audience Award at the Sundance film festival.

In addition, the film won the Cinema for Peace Award (Berlin, Germany) and two awards of the Royal Television Society 2023 (Great Britain).

‘20 Days in Mariupol’ produced by Chernov, Associated Press and Frontline, tells about the first weeks of Russian invasion in Mariupol. Chernov, along with photographer Yevhen Maloletka and producer Vasylisa Stepanenko, arrived in Mariupol on February 24, an hour before the invasion began. They recorded everything that was happening in the city, including the humanitarian disaster caused by the siege, mass burials of civilians, the crimes of Russian troops, the work of doctors, and were the first to show the world the consequences of the bombing of maternity hospital No. 3.

‘The Cleveland Film Festival award means that the story of Ukrainians, the story of resistance, tragedies and pain does not leave anyone in the world indifferent. The purpose of this film is to continue to remind people all over the world what victims Ukrainians are getting every day of this titanic struggle against the invaders’, Chernov said.