20 Days in Mariupol was cut from the international TV version of the Oscars: what's going on

The part with the announcement of the winner in the Best Feature Documentary nomination was cut from the international abridged version of the Oscar ceremony. The golden statuette was awarded to the film "20 Days in Mariupol" by Ukrainian director Mstyslav Chernov.

This was reported by Suspilne on Monday evening, March 11. The shortened version was scheduled to be shown on the Suspilne Kultura TV channel at 20:30.

However, after receiving the materials for the broadcast from the organizers of this year's award, the channel's team discovered that there was no award for Ukrainian documentaries. The TV channel decided not to broadcast the shortened version and showed viewers the full version of the ceremony, which was broadcast live on the night of March 11.

Lukyan Galkin, executive producer of Suspilne Kultura, reminded that last year, the shortened version of the film about Russian Alexei Navalny won the nomination, as well as the political speech of his wife Yulia.

"Mstyslav Chernov 's powerful speech emphasized the unity between Ukraine and the world - it is all the more disappointing to see this episode full of truth and power excluded from the version distributed to the Oscar's global licensees," he said, adding that he hoped the organizers of the award would listen to the protest.

Representatives of Disney Entertainment explained why they did not include the awarding of the film "20 Days in Mariupol" in the shortened international TV version of the Oscars. They stated that this was due to "time constraints". At the same time, according to Disney Entertainment representatives, the choice of nominations for the shortened version was determined in advance.

The company's representatives also added that the license to broadcast both the full live ceremony and an alternative 90-minute version of the show in Ukraine was granted to Suspilne.

As a reminder, on the night of March 11, Mstyslav Chernov's Ukrainian documentary 20 Days in Mariupol won the first Oscar in the history of Ukraine.

In his victory speech, Chernov admitted that he wished he had never made this film, and that he would not hesitate to exchange the golden statuette for peace in his native country. He reminded the world of Russia's attack on Ukraine, the occupation of Ukrainian cities, the murder of Ukrainians by the occupiers, and the fact that Russians are holding thousands of Ukrainian military and civilians captive. At the end, the director added in Ukrainian: "Glory to Ukraine!"

Ukrainian stars and movie fans had mixed reactions to the award, noting that they would have preferred to never see the events of the tragic film. And Russians, as expected, attacked Ukrainians and Americans with insults and cynical jokes about the occupation. At this time, the Kremlin fell into ignorance and did not comment on the film's victory at the Oscars.

As OBOZ.UA previously reported, on March 14, the documentary 20 Days in Mariupol returns to the big screens. The film's re-release is limited - it will be available for a short period of time only in selected cinemas in Ukraine.

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