Mstyslav Chernov, a filmmaker between the crimson carpet and the trenches in Ukraine: “The world has never been as dangerous as today” | Cinema: premieres and evaluations | EUROtoday

“It was like living in two worlds, and I had to transition from one to the other in a radical way. From attending film competitions and walking on their red carpets to crossing the border with Poland and getting into the trenches.” In September 2023, the Ukrainian filmmaker Mstyslav Chernov (Kharkov, 40 years outdated) introduced from pageant to pageant, beginning the race for the Oscar award that he lastly gained, his documentary 20 days in Mariupol, when he managed to get his nation’s military to just accept that he be embedded in a platoon. And not at any second, however within the offensive that Ukraine was going to launch to regain floor within the Donbas, thought-about the biggest counterattack on European soil for the reason that Second World War. The result’s titled 2,000 meters to Andriivka, It can now be seen on the Filmin platform, and sure, it’s once more within the race for the Oscars, after premiering at Sundance and coming into the listing of 15 shortlisted for the statuette for greatest documentary.

Chernov is not only anybody in photojournalism. In addition to reporting on the Euromaidan protests in 2013 in his native nation and being the primary to reach on the wreckage of the Malaysia Airlines airplane shot down by Russia in 2014 on his third day of labor on the Associated Press, for this company he lined varied struggle and humanitarian conflicts in Europe and the Middle East. For their work in Mariupol, together with their keep in that metropolis throughout its seize by Russian troops, Chernov and three different AP colleagues gained a Pulitzer Prize. Furthermore, he had recorded a lot materials (30 hours) of the siege that he determined to make the documentary with which he gained the Oscar. In his interviews, he nearly by no means permits himself a break or strays from his message. In the one carried out by EL PAÍS final Wednesday, through WhatsApp name, solely a wink was allowed in a small lament: “For me it’s later. Here it’s midnight.” He was not responding from London as that they had introduced, however, almost definitely, from Ukraine. Little extra. When requested if his household – he has two daughters – is effectively, he blurts out: “For security reasons I cannot answer.”

The two kilometers within the title are people who separated the Ukrainian troops in that September 2023 from the taking of Andriivka, in Donbas, a razed village though key because of its geographical location. The solely path is a forest, lush solely as a result of the stays of branches and bushes are piled up, and stuffed with Russian military trenches, not more than 15 meters extensive, flanked by two gigantic minefields. Either by means of the forest or nothing. “I was looking for another story, not one of pain and victimhood like 20 days…, but rather to show our resistance, our union in the face of adversity. And when the counteroffensive began I felt that was what I wanted to tell. “This is a story of distances, not only the distance between the army and the city, but also the distance between peace and war.”

The movie additionally paperwork what a contemporary struggle battle is like, fully digitalized. In addition to the photographs from his digicam and that of his companion Alex Babenko, embedded in a platoon of the Third Assault Battalion, the display screen exhibits recordings from the cameras that Ukrainian troopers often put on on their helmets, aerial views from each suicide and surveillance drones, and photographs of the headquarters, from the place the second is adopted on screens each step. From there they even warn of the scenario of the Russians: “Brother, be careful, there is a bastard on your right.” Brother, to be referred to as amongst Ukrainians, and bastard, to be referred to as by Russian troopers, are probably the most heard phrases within the documentary.

Chernov factors out that the movie’s placing resemblance to a online game is “because that entertainment has been modeled on war experiences.” And he continues: “This unfortunate reality is easily available due to current technological development, because we can install cameras in helmets, see what the drones see. We can take the viewer to an experience they have not had before. Maybe Saving Private Ryan, All Quiet on the Front o Apocalypse Now provoke a similar feeling. However, everything here is real. It is the only thing, actually the best, that we can contribute to the documentary genre.”

Things have not improved in 2026. “When the counteroffensive, 20% of Ukraine was in Russian arms. Andriivka, transformed into an emblem of our resistance, was recovered and misplaced once more. That 20% continues to be within the energy of Russia. The world has by no means been as harmful as at present. And I imply your complete planet. This militarization had by no means existed. However, there’s a huge distinction between how Ukrainian and Western audiences see this documentary. My compatriots really feel the necessity to defend their dwelling and their household, and within the course of the movie serves as a reminiscence of the deceased. Be cautious, it isn’t a propaganda movie. Westerners say: ‘War is horrible! It is horrible!’ And they could suppose that we’re making a futile effort, however it isn’t futile to defend your own home and your identification,” he says.

Despite the fact that the bullets pass very close, whether they advance crawling or running, the images of Chernov and Babenko never show the faces of the deceased. And there are many. “We don’t disguise the harshness of what’s taking place, we don’t come to whitewash the struggle. However, we got down to respect the fallen and their households. We present the horror, however we would like many individuals to have the ability to see it.”

With great care, Chernov recounts in voice off in the documentary what happened to the soldiers interviewed, almost all of them killed in combat. One of them, 46 years old and who could be the father of the rest of the platoon, asks that he not be filmed as a hero, who has only come to defend his country and his family. “Because in struggle cinema an important moments are people who communicate to us about humanity. At least, that is how I perceive it. I needed to take heed to them and perceive that the elemental factor for them is their households, their universities, their group, the human connection.”

How do you see the future of Ukraine? Will there be an end to the Russian invasion? “Look, I’m not an optimist, like lots of my compatriots, nor a pessimist, as a result of then I might quit. I’m a realist. In latest months, there have been many peace talks and doable agreements, and none of these phrases have served to cease the Russian bombing of Ukrainian cities and the killing of civilians.” And are you preparing a new movie? “Yes, my work has overlapped once more. I’m attempting, once more, a distinct perspective, now extra political, and that, on the identical time, displays how bombings and violence have an effect on civilians.” growing up from Russia. I only hope that it is the last film about this barbaric invasion and that it portrays the end of the war.”