Documenting the Siege of Mariupol

The FRONTLINE Dispatch

GBH

News

4.6 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 21 July 2023

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Now playing in select theaters and coming to PBS this fall, 20 Days in Mariupol is an unflinching, first-hand account of the early days of Russia’s invasion of the port city of Mariupol, which remains under Russian occupation to this day.

Ukrainian-born director and journalist Mstyslav Chernov and his colleagues from the Associated Press were the last international journalists to remain in Mariupol as Russian troops attacked. His new film, from FRONTLINE and the AP, draws on Chernov’s news dispatches and his reflections as he documented the devastation of his home country for the world to see.

Chernov sat down with FRONTLINE editor-in-chief and executive producer Raney Aronson-Rath and editor and producer Michelle Mizner earlier this year, as we marked the grim anniversary of the war in Ukraine. In this episode of The FRONTLINE Dispatch, he recounts the decision to go to Mariupol, how he and Mizner created a documentary feature from his Pulitzer Prize-winning journalism, and what he hopes people will take away from the film — today, and in years to come.

“I know that we form our understanding of the current events of the world around us by watching news and consuming news,” Chernov said. “ But [we] form our understanding of our past with documentary films… Film is a medium which carries meaning across time, for generations to come.”

20 Days in Mariupol is currently playing in select theaters.

Want to be notified every time a new podcast episode drops? Sign up for The FRONTLINE Dispatch newsletter.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	The new documentary feature, 20 Days in Mary U. Pol, from Frontline and the Associated
0:05.6	Press, is now playing in select theaters and coming to PBS this fall.
0:11.4	Last February is be marked a year of the war in Ukraine.
0:14.9	I hosted an in-person recording of the Dispatch at the Boston Public Library, with director
0:20.4	Mrs. Love Sheranoth and my colleague, producer and editor, Michelle Meisner.
0:25.8	I'm Rene Aranson-Roth, editor-in-chief and executive producer of Frontline, and this
0:30.9	is the Frontline Dispatch.
0:37.8	The Frontline Dispatch is made possible by the Abrams Foundation, committed to excellence
0:42.4	in journalism, and by the Frontline Journalism Fund, with major support from John and Joanne
0:47.7	Hagler.
0:49.0	Support for Frontline Dispatch comes from the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center,
0:52.8	dedicated to providing compassionate care and cancer specialists who are experienced
0:56.6	in the cancer you have.
0:57.9	When you hear the word cancer, their team is ready.
1:00.6	Learn more at massgeneral.org slash cancer.
1:04.5	We're so pleased to be here at the BPL to talk about our documentary, 20 Days in Mary
1:09.4	U. Pol, that we produce alongside the Associated Press.
1:14.1	And it's extra special because we have with us, AP Reporter Mrs. Love Sheranoth, who directed
1:19.7	and filmed this documentary, or also joined my Michelle Meisner, the talented Frontline
1:24.5	editor, who helped turn this reporting into the unforgettable documentary that it is.
1:29.9	20 Days in Mary U. Pol is an unflinching account of the Russian siege of the Port City
1:35.2	of Mary U. Pol, which remains to this day under Russian occupation.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from GBH, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of GBH and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.