20 Days in Mariupol,  5 stars

20 Days in Mariupol has to be one of the most compelling and important movies to show here at the festival. Before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Ukranian war correspondent and filmmaker Mstyslav Chernov took a team of journalists into the eastern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol. Then the war started with the city receiving incessant shelling and bombing against the military and civilians alike.  Chernov’s team recorded as much as they could spending much of the time in the hospitals where they show us the many casualties of the conflict that included women, children and the elderly. They show how the Russians targeted infrastructure to remove electricity and heat from the population.  The journalists sometimes have to travel around to find an internet signal so they could get their material to the Associated Press and the world. We are not spared seeing many atrocities caused by the shelling including children dying on the operating table.  An estimated 25,000 people were killed in the city and suburbs.  Many of the images are familiar as they were seen worldwide in the early days of the war. The film gives a wider perspective too by showing the propaganda war waged by the Russians that seeks to discredit the truth.  In the footage we even see civilians who are convinced that they are being attacked by the Ukranian military. The entire movie is narrated by Chernov who was also present at the Q&A where he expressed how important it is show the truth about the war.