2000 Meters to Andriivka, a film by Oscar-winning Ukrainian director Mstyslav Chernov, honored at Sundance Film Festival

Mstyslav Chernov, a 40-year-old photojournalist and writer whose film 20 Days in Mariupol brought Ukraine its first Oscar, now stirred up the Sundance Film Festival. His new film, 2000 Meters to Andriivka, has won Directing Award: World Cinema Documentary.

This information was published on the Sundance Film Festival website. According to the Indian screenwriter Sudeep Sharma, the war correspondent managed to create a project where he combined the terrible beauty of the liberation of his native land and the reflection of the senselessness of this war.

"Surrounded by mines and only accessible through a tiny sliver of wooded land that is fought over meter by meter, the village of Andriivka, Ukraine, lies in ruins. Following 20 Days in Mariupol (2023 Sundance Film Festival), Ukrainian director and journalist Mstyslav Chernov returns with a stunning portrayal of life in the trenches, and in the battle for this one small place, the desperate struggle against Russia to free the Ukrainian nation. In this picture of total war — from the command centers leading the soldiers to the funerals for those who lost their lives and the brutal combat by people who only a few years ago were civilians — Chernov has created a remarkable film about the terrible beauty in liberating one’s home while also unflinchingly looking at the futility and horror of war itself," the expert said about the film.

What the movie is about

The documentary reveals the story of the liberation of the village of Andriivka near Bakhmut by the soldiers of the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The filming process began in September 2023 during the Ukrainian counteroffensive in the Donetsk region. Mstyslav Chernov managed to get most of the footage thanks to special cameras that were attached to the helmets of the defenders.

In the film, the journalist combined the gruesome footage of the destroyed village and revealed the characters of the soldiers. The defenders shared stories about their former lives and expressed their desire to achieve peace in their native land as soon as possible. Sometimes the footage was interrupted by the director's words when, unfortunately, he reported the deaths of some soldiers.

It is worth noting that after the premiere of the documentary at the Sundance Film Festival on January 23, it received a number of positive feedbacks from world critics. One of the experts noted, "Not since Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger’s "Restrepo" (or its sequel "Korengal") has there been such a visceral and immersive view from the front lines of combat."

In addition to Mstyslav Chernov, the film was also created by Associated Press photographer Oleksandr Babenko, producers Michelle Mizner and Raney Aronson-Rath, and Grammy-winning composer and music producer Sam Slater.

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