20 Days in Mariupol to be added to international telecast of the Oscars

The American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will include 20 Days in Mariupol in its licenced recording of the Oscars ceremony. The award presentation for Best Documentary Film will be added to the international 90-minute version. Source: Deadline

Earlier, Suspline, which holds the awards' broadcasting rights, was outraged by Disney's decision to cut the segment. 

The live Oscars broadcast began at 01:00 Kyiv time and ended around 04:20. Therefore, a large number of Ukrainian viewers were unable to watch the awards ceremony. Suspilne planned to air a repeat broadcast of the 90-minute version on Monday evening, but it was found that segments containing the awarding of the accolade and the speech of Mstyslav Chernov, the film's director, were missing.

Fallon via Getty Images

At the ceremony, Chernov delivered a poignant speech, drawing the attention of those present at the ceremony and watching it on television to the atrocities committed by the Russians in Ukraine. Lukian Halkin, executive producer of Suspilne Culture, emphasised that last year's abridged version included the award ceremony for Best Documentary Feature Film. That year, the winning film, about Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, competed with the Ukrainian film A House Made of Splinters, about children from Lysychansk.

Quote: "Here's the deal: last year, the Documentary category was included in the 90-minute international version, just like Yulia Navalnaya's political speech [was this year]. I find it hard to believe that Disney plans the 90-minute version's script without considering the predicted winners - it sounds unconvincing for a highly-rated show," said Halkin. Ukraine's National Council on Television and Radio Broadcasting joined the public discussion, urging the directors of the Disney company to add 20 Days in Mariupol to the shortened version of the Oscars ceremony.

Best Documentary Film at the 2024 Oscars

The awarding of an Oscar to the film 20 Days in Mariupol was not included in the shortened international telecast of the Oscars ceremony.

The telecast lasted 90 minutes, and certain categories and parts of the show could not be included due to time constraints. Disney Entertainment explained that the selection of nominations for the shortened version was determined several weeks ago during the planning process of the ceremony broadcast.

20 Days in Mariupol is the first Ukrainian film in history to win an Oscar. "I wish I had never made this film.

I wish I could exchange [this Oscar] for Russia never attacking Ukraine; never occupying our cities. Russians are killing tens of thousands of my fellow Ukrainians..." Chernov said to the Oscars' audience. The documentary film was assembled from footage captured by Chernov and a team of Associated Press photo journalists in the besieged city of Mariupol, under Russian occupation.

This material was sent to international media outlets, depicting the horrific events in the city: the deaths of children and adults, the digging of mass graves, the destruction of a maternity hospital by a Russian airstrike, and other Russian war crimes.

The film became the highest-grossing documentary in Ukraine last year, earning UAH 500,000 (US£13,000) in just its first weekend after release.

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