Director: Mstyslav Chernov
A small team of journalists stayed behind in a besieged city with almost no way out, and their footage became some of the only outside record of what was happening there.
What is 20 Days In Mariupol about?
The documentary is assembled from footage shot by an Associated Press crew who remained in Mariupol during the opening weeks of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, after most other international press had left. Working from hospitals, apartment blocks, and makeshift shelters as communication lines failed, the team documents the collapse of basic services and the mounting toll on civilians trying to survive the siege. The film follows the practical difficulty of simply getting the footage out of the city to the wider world, alongside the more personal toll of continuing to film while the surrounding community suffers. Told largely in the crew's own voice, it functions as both a record of a specific 20-day period and a document of what war reporting looks like when the reporters themselves cannot leave.
Cast & crew
The documentary features journalist and director Mstyslav Chernov alongside his Associated Press colleagues, filmed largely by themselves rather than an outside crew, which gives the footage its unfiltered, on-the-ground quality. There are no professional actors; the people on screen are the journalists, medical staff, and residents who lived through the period being documented.
Context & significance
Mariupol, a port city in southeastern Ukraine, came under siege in the early weeks of the 2022 invasion, and the events shown in the film take place during that specific window before communication with the city became largely cut off. The footage was later credited with informing international understanding of the siege's civilian impact, and the film went on to receive wide recognition on the documentary festival and awards circuit following its 2023 release.
Where & how to watch
This page can be read without logging in. Streaming the film itself requires a K-Time account, on a platform built for Farsi-speaking audiences; a Persian dub and Persian subtitles are both available for this title.