Mstyslav Chernov and Raney Aronson (’20 Days in Mariupol’): ‘This is a symbolic story’
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“That was a very emotional day,” recalls Mstyslav Chernov, the director and co-producer of “20 Days in Mariupol,” while discussing his Oscar nomination for Best Documentary Feature. “Russia recently has been bombing my hometown Kharkiv a lot. On that day there was a bombing and I remember feeling so conflicted about it. The news about people dying and people being injured. I can see these images from my neighborhood. The rockets hitting. Then, the news about the nomination coming. It was a powerful, bitter mixture of feelings.” Watch our exclusive video interview with Chernov and his co-producer, Raney Aronson, above.
“20 Days in Mariupol” tells the story of the 20 days Chernov spent with his colleagues in besieged Mariupol after Russia began its invasion of Ukraine. Chernov compiled footage that he collected in Mariupol together with the team from “Frontline” and the Associated Press (AP).
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This is Chernov’s first feature film. “Initially my work is to gather information, to gather news, to gather the footage and send them urgently,” he explains. “As the siege proceeded, as things got worse, as more tragedies happened, I saw that there was a bigger story to tell here. This is a symbolic story that needs to be told on a larger scale.”
“From the ‘Frontline’ perspective it started with us seeing the scenes coming out of Mariupol,” says Aronson. “We were watching it without knowing Mstyslav. That’s how it started for us, we were starting to see those visuals. We knew right away that something was different with the way it was being filmed. We were sure that the film team that was there, even though we didn’t know who they were, had a sensibility. We knew it was very special. Then the Associated Press came to us and told us about how much footage there was and that Mstyslav wanted to make a film. We met him the next day.”
Chernov recently won the DGA Award for Best Documentary Director. The film is also nominated for Best Documentary Feature and Best Foreign Film at the 2024 BAFTAs.
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