Screening of 20 Days in Mariupol

Photographer Evgeniy Maloletka picks his way through the aftermath of a Russian attack in Mariupol, Ukraine, 24 February 2022. Maloletka and Associated Press reporter Mystyslav Chernov were documenting the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the subject of the Oscar-winning documentary 20 Days in Mariupol. Photo: Mstyslav Chernov

Cineast and the Lukraine association are organising a special screening of the Academy Award-winning documentary “20 Days in Mariupol.”

“This is painful to watch,” says Associated Press reporter and director Mystyslav Chernov as he narrates the documentary , which won the Oscar for Best Documentary in early March. Photographer Evgeniy Maloletka and Chernov spent nearly three weeks filming in the besieged Ukrainian city as it was destroyed by Russians at the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. “But,” adds Chernov, “it must be painful to watch.”

And it is.

Russia kills civilians. Targets, shells and destroys schools. Supermarkets. Hospitals and a maternity ward. Apartment buildings. The city’s last functioning fire station. Mass graves are dug; bodies accumulate in a hospital basement because the morgue is full. Children are brought to the hospital by grief-stricken parents who beg the doctors to save their kids.

The images are disturbing, will haunt you, will stay glued to the backs of your eyelids. But it’s a film that must be watched. It’s a vivid, in-your-face reminder of the brutal, unjustified war of aggression that Russia is waging--and why Ukraine continues to fight.

Get your tickets .