Screening

MFA Social Documentary Film presents a screening of 20 Days in Mariupol, the Sundance-winning film by Pulitzer Prize-winning Ukrainian journalist Mstyslav Chernov.

Following the screening, MFA SocDoc faculty Thom Powers will interview Mstyslav Chernov in a live taping of Powers’ Pure Nonfiction podcast. Chernov is in New York to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for “courageous reporting from the besieged city of Mariupol that bore witness to the slaughter of civilians in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”

This event is free and open to the public but space is limited; RSVP is required.

10:00am – 20 Days in Mariupol screening (95 minutes)

12:00pm – Q&A with Pure Nonfiction host and faculty member Thom Powers and 20 Days in Mariupol director Mstyslav Chernov.

SVA MFA Social Documentary Film is a two-year graduate program focused on non-fiction film production supported by our faculty of award-winning working filmmakers. SocDoc gives students a better understanding of the film industry and their place within it; graduating hard-working successful filmmakers with a slate of films ready to take to festivals and beyond. New for fall 2024: scholarships of up to $25,000 available. Applications open now for fall 2024.

20 Days in Mariupol (2023, 89 minutes, USA, in Ukrainian, English and Russian with English subtitles)

An AP team of Ukrainian journalists trapped in the besieged city of Mariupol struggle to continue their work documenting atrocities of the Russian invasion. As the only international reporters who remain in the city, they capture what later become defining images of the war: dying children, mass graves, the bombing of a maternity hospital and more.

After nearly a decade covering international conflicts, including the Russia-Ukraine war, for The Associated Press, 20 Days in Mariupol is Mstyslav Chernov’s first feature film. The film draws on Chernov’s daily news dispatches and personal footage of his own country at war. It offers a vivid, harrowing account of civilians caught in the siege, as well as a window into what it’s like to report from a conflict zone, and the impact of such journalism around the globe. Watch the trailer here.

Mstyslav Chernov (director, writer, producer, cinematographer) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning video journalist at The Associated Press and president of the Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers. Since joining AP in 2014, he has covered major conflicts, social issues and environmental crises across Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Most recently, Chernov documented Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Together with longtime colleague Evgeniy Maloletka, Chernov recorded the siege of Mariupol, showing the world eyewitness accounts of the Russian attacks on the city. Chernov’s courageous reporting in Mariupol earned the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. He was named 2016 Camera Operator of the Year and 2015 Young Talent of the Year by the UK’s Royal Television Society. He is from Eastern Ukraine and is based in Germany.

About Pure Nonfiction

If you love documentary films, hear from the top storytellers on Pure Nonfiction. Host Thom Powers is well-connected in this world as a documentary curator for the Toronto International Film Festival, DOC NYC, and SundanceNow Doc Club. He leads conversations that are frank, funny and revealing. Often the stories behind the scenes are as dramatic as what’s on the screen.