The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which orgazines The Oscars, invited Ukrainian documentarians Mstyslav Chernov and Serhiy Loznytsia, to join the organization among 487 other distinguished artists and executives.
Mstyslav Chernov, a Ukrainian photographer and journalist, created the documentary film “20 days in Mariupol,” which won the Oscar for Best Feature Documentary in 2024, becoming the first Ukrainian film to win this prestigious award.
Chernov and his colleague, photographer Yevhen Maloletka, were the last civilian journalists to remain in the besieged city of Mariupol in March 2022, documenting the harrowing realities of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The film also received various other accolades, including the BAFTA Award for Best Documentary and the Pulitzer Prize. Despite its acclaim, Chernov expressed a poignant sentiment, wishing he had never needed to make the film, underscoring his desire for peace over recognition.
Serhiy Loznytsia
Serhiy Loznytsia was recognized for his films “Babyn Yar. Context” about the massacre of nearly 34,000 Jews in Kyiv during the World War II and “Mr. Landsbergis,” a documentary about Lithuania breaking away from the USSR between 1989 and 1991.
At the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Loznytsia withdrew from the European Film Academy (EFA) for failing to call a war a war and issuing a weak statement condemning the Russian attack. However, he also criticised the exclusion of Russian films from the EFA program, stating that it harms those Russian directors who oppose Russia’s war against Ukraine.
In 2022, the Ukrainian Film Academy excluded Loznytsia from the organization because his films were included in the program of the Russian film festival “From Lviv to the Urals” program in the French city of Nantes.
“These remarkably talented artists and professionals from around the world have made a significant impact on our filmmaking community,“ said Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy President Janet Yang.
The Academy Awards, also known as the Oscars, are prestigious awards presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the US to recognize excellence in cinematic achievements. Membership in the Academy is open to qualified cinematographers worldwide.
Related:
- Oscars confirm Ukrainians’ worst fears about the Russian Opposition
- Shortened Oscar Show to be recut to include “20 Days in Mariupol” after outage
- Oscar winner “20 days in Mariupol” shows raw reality of Russia’s war
- Ukrainian journalist’s film on Mariupol nominated for Oscar
