SYNOPSIS
An AP team of Ukrainian journalists trapped in the besieged city of Mariupol struggle to continue their work documenting atrocities of the Russian invasion. As the only international reporters who remain in the city, they capture what later become defining images of the war: dying children, mass graves, the bombing of a maternity hospital, and more.

After nearly a decade covering international conflicts, including the Russia-Ukraine war, for The Associated Press, 20 DAYS IN MARIUPOL is Mstyslav Chernov’s first feature film. The film draws on Chernov’s daily news dispatches and personal footage of his own country at war. The PBS FRONTLINE and ASSOCIATED PRESS production offers a vivid, harrowing account of civilians caught in the siege, as well as a window into what it’s like to report from a conflict zone, and the impact of such journalism around the globe.

The Russians were hunting us down. They had a list of names, including ours, and they were closing in.

We were the only international journalists left in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, and we had been documenting its siege by Russian troops for more than two weeks. We were reporting inside the hospital when gunmen began stalking the corridors. Surgeons gave us white scrubs to wear as camouflage.

Suddenly at dawn, a dozen soldiers burst in: “Where are the journalists, for fuck’s sake?”
—Mstyslav Chernov | Director, Writer, Producer, Cinematographer

5:30pm – Screening
7:05pm – Jennifer Redfearn, Director of our Documentary Film program and student Alisa Gorokhova, class of 2024, in conversation with Director Mstyslav Chernov.
7:30pm – Audience Q&A

Director Mstyslav Chernov poses for a portrait to promote the film “20 Days in Mariupol” at the Latinx House during the Sundance Film Festival on Sunday, Jan. 22, 2023, in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Taylor Jewell/Invision/AP)

Jennifer Redfearn

Jennifer Redfearn is an Academy Award nominated documentary filmmaker and director of the documentary film program at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. She is committed to social issue filmmaking with a style the press has described as “engrossing,” “beautifully cinematic” and “intensely human.” Her latest film APART follows the stories of three incarcerated mothers in Ohio. Filmed over 3 ½ years, Apart traces their steps as they rebuild their lives after being separated from their children for years.

Alisa Gorokhova (’24). Photo: Jule-Sophie Hermann (’24)

Alisa Gorokhova is a Ukrainian-Canadian documentary filmmaker, writer and journalist. Having lived, worked, and studied on both sides of the Atlantic with a decade of experience in technical and commercial copywriting, Alisa is now a second year short-form documentary student at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. She focuses on issues related to immigration, mental health advocacy, history and politics, as well as music and storytelling as a force of learning and healing. She graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the University of Toronto, and received her Master of Arts degree in European Politics from the University of Amsterdam.