6th June 204
Own Correspondent
This illuminating and riveting documentary which is the headline act for this year’s European Union Film Festival taking place from the 12th June until 15th June at River Walk New Capitol Cinemas begins its narrative as the Russian invasion begins, with a team of Ukrainian journalists trapped in the besieged city of Mariupol struggling to continue their work documenting the war.
One week into Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Associated Press video journalist Mstyslav Chernov was still trapped in the port city of Mariupol, watching from a high floor of a hospital as a tank emblazoned with a white Z pulled up alongside.
Even if philosophical cynics will feel it posits a touch self-congratulatory characterization of events by a conflicted and unashamedly biased western journalist, these raw images of the early days on the war, captured in real time underscore two very critical and enduring points: the rarity of Chernov’s footage, and the immense challenge of getting out of Mariupol.
