The documentary "20 Days in Mariupol" brought Ukraine its first-ever Oscar, which the director was ready to give up on

The documentary 20 Days in Mariupol, about the harrowing siege of the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol during the first days of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, won an Oscar for Best Feature Documentary.

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The film by Ukrainian filmmaker Mstyslav Chernov (Mstyslav Chernov ) from the Associated Press, PBS' Frontline and GBH beat out other nominees: "Bobi Wine: The People's President," "The Eternal Memory," "Four Daughters" and "To Kill a Tiger" and brought Ukraine its first-ever Oscar. But Chernov himself, in his acceptance speech, said that it would have been better if he had never had to make such a film at all and that he would have gladly traded the golden statuette for the fact that Russia would never attack Ukraine or destroy Ukrainian cities, taking the lives of innocent people:

"This is the first Oscar in the Ukrainian history. And I’m honored. I’m honored, but probably I will be the first director on the [Oscar] stage who will say, I wish I would never make this film. I wish to be able to exchange this [for] Russia never attacking Ukraine, never occupying our cities. I wish to give all the recognition to Russia not killing tens of thousands of my fellow Ukrainians. I wish for them to release all the hostages, all the soldiers who are protecting their lands, all the civilians who are now in their jails. But I cannot change the history, cannot change the past. But we all together, among you, some of the most talented people in the world, we can make sure that the history record is set straight and that the truth will prevail and that the people of Mariupol and those who have given their lives will never be forgotten. Because cinema forms memories, and memories form history. So thank you all and thank you all. Thank you Ukraine, Slava Ukraini."

A team of journalists from the Associated Press, including Mstislav Chernov, photojournalist Evgeniy Maloletka and producer Vasilisa Stepanenko, spent 20 days in the besieged city seized by Russian forces.

"20 Days in Mariupol begins with a scene where a Russian tank points its barrel at the hospital where Chernov and his team were on the top floor.

-"Exactly in that moment in the film, this moment of uncertainty, the moment when tanks are shooting at the residential areas, when the hospital is surrounded and we are trapped, I’m thinking about my family, about my daughters, the fact that I probably will not make it out alive" Chernov told Deadline in an interview last month.

Hopefully winning such a great award will bring even more attention to the war in Ukraine. Billions of dollars in aid for Ukraine's war effort against Russia has been blocked in Congress for months.

President Biden again urgently called for passage of the aid bill during his address to the nation last week: "If anybody in this room thinks Putin will stop at Ukraine, I assure you, he will not". "But Ukraine can stop Putin if we stand with Ukraine and provide the weapons it needs to defend itself. That is all Ukraine is asking.".

Source: Deadline