For the first time in the history of Ukrainian cinema, 20 Days in Mariupol, directed by Mstyslav Chernov, won the best documentary Oscar.

"This is the first Oscar in Ukrainian history, and I’m honored. Probably I will be the first director on this stage to say I wish I’d never made this film, I wish to be able to exchange this to Russia never attacking Ukraine,” Chernov said upon receiving the Oscar.

He was joined on stage by photojournalist Evgeniy Maloletka and producer Vasilisa Stepanenko, who worked with the director in besieged Mariupol in 2022.

20 Days in Mariupol, which tells the story of the besieged city from February 24, 2022, is the debut of war correspondent photographer, videographer and writer Mstyslav Chernov. The film involved the works of Evgeniy Maloletka and producer and journalist Vasilisa Stepanenko. They won the Pulitzer Prize for their work in Mariupol.

In addition, Maloletka, Chernov and Stepanenko won the Shevchenko Prize for their series of journalistic materials about the siege of Mariupol (reports, photo and video reports, investigations and the film 20 Days in Mariupol).

The film was premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, an independent-film festival held in the United States, in the World Cinema Documentary Competition section, and won the Audience Award.

The Ukrainian premiere took place at the Docudays UA festival, where 20 Days in Mariupol won the best film in the National Competition and the Audience Award.

The film also won awards at the Cleveland International Film Festival (USA), DocAviv (Israel), Sheffield DocFest (UK), DocEdge (New Zealand), Cinema for Peace (Germany), and the Royal Television Society (UK).

In its first week of release in Ukraine, 20 Days in Mariupol raised over UAH 530.000 and became the highest-grossing Ukrainian documentary film in history.

The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky noted the important role of the documentary 20 Days in Mariupol in countering Russian propaganda and thanked its creators.

The film was created in collaboration with the Associated Press and American documentary filmmakers from Frontline.