Mstislav Chernov’s “20 Days in Mariupol” won in the Best Feature Documentary category of the Academy Awards, according to the Associated Press.
At the awards ceremony, Mstislav Chernov took the stage to collect his award.
“Movies shape memories, and memories shape history,” Chernov said.
The Associated Press and PBS “Frontline” team that produced the documentary received a standing ovation from the audience. This is the first Oscar for both Ukraine and the Associated Press.
“20 Days in Mariupol” chronicles the first weeks of fighting in Mariupol in the Donetsk region during Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Director and photographer Mstislav Chernov, photographer Eugene Maloletka and producer and journalist Vasilisa Stepanenko worked on the movie. They were the last journalists to cover the beginning of Russia’s destruction of Mariupol, for which all three won the Pulitzer Prize.
The movie became the highest-grossing documentary in Ukraine last year, collecting 500 thousand UAH only for the first weekend of distribution.
As reported, the documentary “20 Days in Mariupol” won the BAFTA award of the British Academy.
The Ukrainian film “Editorial Office” directed by Roman Bondarchuk in co-production with the German company Elemag Pictures received EUR 140,000 from Eurimages, Culture Minister of Ukraine Oleksandr Tkachenko said.
“High-quality and major film requires appropriate funds. Especially if there is a goal to enter the world cinema market. And here’s the good news. The film ‘Editorial Office’ directed by Roman Bondarchuk, co-produced with the German company Elemag Pictures, received EUR 140,000 from Eurimages,” the minister said in his Telegram account on Monday evening.
According to him, the decision to support the Ukrainian-German film “Editorial Office” was made at a meeting of the Board of Directors of the European Support Fund for the Co-Production and Distribution of Creative Cinematographic and Audiovisual Works.
“According to a special procedure for Ukraine, the accounts of Ukrainian producer Darya Bassel (Moon Man LLC) will receive more than EUR 110,000. The drama with elements of the comedy “Editorial Office” became one of the winners of the 14th competitive selection of the State Film Agency and received support of almost UAH 20 millio,” Tkachenko said.
He thanked colleagues from Eurimages for their support.
The government is doing everything to support the Ukrainian film business, even despite the COVID-19 pandemic, and Ukraine has gained a good reputation as a partner of international film companies, Minister of Culture and Information Policy Oleksandr Tkachenko has said.
“Even during the difficult period of the pandemic, we are doing everything so that the Ukrainian film business has support from the state, and Ukraine gains a good reputation as a partner of international film companies. We have cool locations and equally cool productions for this. This has already been proven by the film The Last Mercenary from Netflix with Jean-Claude Van Damme in the title role, of which the lion’s share of the shooting took place in Kyiv,” Tkachenko wrote in his Telegram channel.
He also said that Ukraine presents its films and a national stand at the European Film Market of the Berlin Film Festival. There are such domestic films as “Stop-Zemlia” and “Ursus”, animation “Gulliver Returns”, documentary “Puzzles”.
According to Tkachenko, the stand is “a guarantee for the future. Both for promoting our films abroad, and for advertising the system of cash rebates and other benefits from filming in Ukraine.” In particular, the Locations.com.ua service was presented – an online catalog for finding the best locations in our country.
In 2020, 20 Ukrainian films, created with the support of the Ukrainian State Film Agency, went into cinemas, and another 92 projects have already been launched, Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine Oleksandr Tkachenko has said.
“Some 20 Ukrainian films created with the support of the State Film Agency went into cinemas this year [2020]. 92 projects have been launched,” Tkachenko said during an online conference on the results of work in 2020 in Kyiv a week ago.
In addition, the minister recalled that during the 13th competition for film projects, 23 winners were selected who will receive funds from the state, as well as 72 winners were selecting during the 14th competition.
