‘20 Days in Mariupol’ can win an Oscar. Will it make the world care about Russian war crimes in Ukraine?

“My brain will desperately want to forget all this,” narrates journalist Mstyslav Chernov over footage he filmed of city workers adding bodies to a mass grave in Mariupol, “but the camera will not let it happen.” At the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Chernov, along with his Associated Press colleagues, photographer Evgeniy Maloletka and field producer Vasilisa Stepanenko, were the last international media left reporting from the besieged city of Mariupol. Those who remained within the city faced significant risks as Russian forces advanced. The footage they captured for the AP, including famous scenes from the aftermath of the Russian airstrike on a maternity hospital on March 9, 2022, horrified the world and arguably contributed to mobilizing international aid for Ukraine.

The documentary film “20 Days in Mariupol” pieces together this footage in chronological order. It earned a nomination for Best Documentary Feature Film at this year’s Oscars, which are scheduled to air on March 10, and there’s a strong likelihood that the film will win. The Oscar nomination is a first for Ukrainian cinema and a victory for “20 Days in Mariupol” would be a historic milestone for Ukrainian culture during the country’s darkest hour. But many are hoping that it will also bring renewed global focus on the stark brutality of Russia’s war crimes as the full-scale war enters its third year.