Documentary “20 Days in Mariupol” makes history as first Ukrainian film nominated for Oscar

an Oscar by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Rubryka reports, citing the broadcast of the nominee announcement.

This is the first Ukrainian film to receive an Oscar nomination since the country's independence. The film has been nominated in the documentary feature film category.

Earlier, Rubryka reported that the Ukrainian documentary about the first days of the siege of Mariupol by Russian occupiers made it to the Oscar shortlist in two categories.

"20 Days in Mariupol" is a film by Ukrainian journalist and photographer Mstyslav Chernov. Photo reporter Yevhen Malolietka and producer Vasylisa Stepanenko worked on the film alongside him. The documentary was a collaboration between the Associated Press and American documentary filmmakers from Frontline. The material was shot during the early days of the siege of Mariupol after the start of Russia's full-scale invasion.

Arriving in the city on February 24, 2022, Chernov and Malolietka covered the work of doctors in local hospitals, documented numerous civilian casualties, and left the city on March 15 as part of a column that departed after a humanitarian corridor opened for evacuation.

The film depicts the beginning of Russia's full-scale war, the bombing of the maternity hospital, and the rescue of the film's author and his colleagues from the Associated Press from the city surrounded by Russian forces.

In 2023, the film's creators became laureates of the Pulitzer Prize in the "Public Service" category.

Another film about Ukraine, "In the Rearview," has made it to the shortlist in the "Documentary Film" category. It shows a general portrait of Ukrainian refugees who share a common goal: to find a safe place amid the war.

Last year, a film in Ukrainian co-production about Ukraine was nominated in the documentary section — "A House Made of Splinters" by Danish director Simon Lereng Wilmont. It is a story about children detached from their parents in the front-line city of Lysychansk. While not officially representing Ukraine, the film had many Ukrainians in its team, including the second director and line producer, Azad Safarov, producers Daria Bassel and Oleksandra Kravchenko, and coordinator and consultant Olena Rozvadovska.

The film's heroines, educators Olha Tronova and Marharita Burlutska from the Lysychansk center, also traveled to Hollywood to attend the awards ceremony in March 2023.