"Mariupol, I'll Be Back!" A film about a heroic pediatric surgeon was presented in Kyiv

On March 2, Kyiv hosted a pre-premiere screening of the short film Mariupol, I'll Be Back, based on the true story of Oleksandr Martyntsov, a pediatric surgeon from Mariupol who retrained as a military medic in March 2022 to save the lives of wounded Mariupol residents.

The film was created in the fiction-documentary genre. In the fiction part of the film, actors Viktor Kryvusha and Halyna Herasymova, who played the main roles, recreated the life of the Martyntsov family before the full-scale invasion, and in the documentary part of the film, Oleksandr Martyntsov himself told how the war deprived him of everything that was dear to him and about the genocide committed by the Russian occupiers in March 2022 in Mariupol.

The premiere was attended by Oleksandr Martyntsov himself, who saw the film for the first time and thanked the film's team for the truth they showed on the big screen.

The film was created by the creative team of RProduction Studio, based on the idea of the studio's screenwriter Roman Dikhtiar.

"This movie is about real pain and the hope that one day all Ukrainians will be able to return to their hometowns," Dikhtiar said.

The film was produced by Razmik Poghosian, for whom this is his debut feature.

"This is our first work, it is not commercial and not profitable at all, it was important for me and our production team to contribute to honoring the memory of all those who died in Mariupol."

More than a hundred people came to the private screening, the DTEK Academy cinema where the screening took place was overcrowded, and many viewers could not hold back their tears after the screening.

Among the guests were many residents of Mariupol, well-known media professionals, and military doctors.

As part of the evening, a charity auction was held to raise funds for the Medical Assault, the KOLO Charitable Foundation. It is this team of medics that helps Ukrainians in the de-occupied territories.

"We hope that our volunteers will one day arrive in de-occupied Mariupol," Volodymyr Nechyporuk, head of the Medical Landing Project.

The premiere charity evening was organized by Olga Kosinska's event company, and the buffet was provided by the Vkusnyy restaurant catering company.

The evening was hosted by Vyacheslav Matiukhin, a well-known Mariupol resident.

Young performers SVITLA and KORNEL performed at the event, and the popular singer TAYANNA closed the evening.

Mariupol, I'll Be Back has now been selected for the Toronto International Film Festival, and Razmik Poghosian is convinced that such films should be shown around the world because they show the truth that cannot be erased from memory.