Last year, Mstislav Chernov became the first Ukrainian to receive an Oscar for a documentary film — the film “20 Days in Mariupol”. Now he returns with a new job — “2000 meters to Andriivka”. In this film, the front appears not as an abstract line on a map, but as a concrete distance of two thousand meters — the space of death and life between Ukrainian soldiers and Russian occupiers.
The new film takes the viewer to the village of Andriivka — a tiny settlement ten kilometers from Bakhmut, where fewer than a hundred people lived before the full-scale invasion began. With the advance of the front, Andriivka became a key point of the Ukrainian counteroffensive. It is separated from the positions of the Third Assault Brigade by a narrow ruined strip of forest dotted with mines and human bodies. Its length is two thousand meters. And it is these two kilometers that have become the limit of life and death, which the military conquers at the cost of numerous losses.
Chernov shows this distance not only as a geographical one, but also as a metaphor for choice. The fighter with the call sign Fedya takes up the weapon, and the director himself takes the camera.
Even before its release, the film received positive reviews in the UK. The Times called it one of the most important films of the year, and The The Guardianemphasized: the viewer during the viewing finds himself in the trenches next to the fighters and does not leave the hall unchanged.
In Ukraine “2000 meters to Andriivka” will be available for rent on August 28. American screenings started on July 25 in New York at the Film Forum cinema, and within a week the film was presented in Los Angeles, at Laemmle Monica. After that, the picture was released nationally in the United States.
The tape “2000 meters to Andreevka” caused a significant resonance. In numerous interviews, Mstislav Chernov told why, among hundreds of settlements where fighting continues, he chose Andreyivka; what he experienced during shelling on positions; where he finds the strength to continue filming the war; and how his daughters turned Oscar and BAFTA into an element of the home game.
In recent months, the director has shared these stories with many Ukrainian media. Below are key snippets from several conversations with him.
In the interview “The Ukrainian Truth“ Mstislav Chernov Recalls that the summer of 2023 was a turning point for him personally and professionally. On the one hand, a huge success “20 days in Mariupol”in the US box office, where the film went alongside the major blockbusters of the year. On the other hand, the flame-engulfed front in Ukraine, where he returned literally from the red carpets.
“The summer of 2023 is probably one of the hardest of my life. We just started showing “20 Days in Mariupol” in American cinemas. This is the most important moment when the most press comes out, and you are not talking to the festival audience, but to the audience at large. I remember being told, “Don't be sad if people don't come. Because it was the time when “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” were released at the same time as our film. But the halls were still full - people at that time went to the cinema a lot. And it was so interesting for me to watch how ours hung in the middle of the posters of these films. Then I talked a lot about Mariupol, about cinema. Red carpets, interviews, cocktail parties began, where you meet with film critics, Oscar experts and so on. At the same time, the front was burning in Ukraine.”
Actually, it was then, against the background of the counteroffensive, that Mstislav Chernov had the idea of a new film. At first, he conceived a wide panorama of combat operations, but a meeting with the “Hydra” unit of the Third Assault Brigade and acquaintance with the fighter Fedya changed the director's plans. The camera stayed with them — and this choice determined the whole film.
“We had several units with which we worked in different directions. Initially, there was an idea to tell a broad story about the entire counteroffensive. But when we met Fedya and the Hydra unit of the 3rd Assault Brigade, when we started shooting them, and I saw the first shots, we decided to focus on this. At the battle, where Gagarin died (call fighter of the 3rd assault). This is the main moment of the film, such a heroic and very difficult loss. We were just watching the footage when we just left the battle, looking at the map, and I saw this landing that leads to Andriivka. Then I realized that if we can tell the story of Andreyevka, the story of the 3rd Assault Brigade, Fedya and his unit, then it will be a symbol of the whole front, a symbol of the whole counteroffensive, and that will be enough for the film.”
The film crew worked side by side with the fighters: they installed GoPro action cameras, filmed at command observation points, next to mortars and drone calculations.
“In those days when Fedya carried the flag, we went with him, hoping that at the end of our film there would be the release of Andreyevka... It's a documentary film, so when you start shooting, you never know if you're going to finish the movie or whether you're going to be alive at all.”
The contrast between the front and Hollywood seemed incredible to the director. Chernov recalls returning from dusty trenches to premieres in Los Angeles, where he was reprimanded for not wearing a suit.
“The fights go on, and someone on the team says to me, “What are you not in a suit?” And I'm in a military jacket and pants, and I still have this dust on me from the front. I had meetings with representatives of various major studios, and everyone asked me when the shooting would end and how the film would end. But I realized that I had no answer to these questions. We decided to shoot while we could shoot, and it was only after the final completion of filming that we found a studio that could become an official producer.”
A separate topic of conversation is trust between the film crew and the military. Chernov emphasizes that the fighters consciously took responsibility for his safety, but at the same time perfectly understood the importance of recording events. Without a frame, it is as if there is no story.
“If the brigade and commanders did not agree (to take the film crew under their responsibility —ed.), it would be impossible, it would just be disrespect. But we live in a time when war is going on not only in the physical, but also in the media space. This does not mean that journalists are weapons of the military. This means that the military understands: if they raised the flag over the city, or over the village during its liberation, and there are no photos or videos of that moment, then no one will know about it. It's as if it didn't happen.History is not what happened, but what we remember. Therefore, everyone understands that removing the moment of raising the flag is just as important as raising the flag itself.I'm honored that I was allowed to take it off. But the Russians understood it. And there was a problem: we hid while we went to Andriyivka, precisely because we understood that if the Russians saw the flag, if they saw the journalists traveling with the flag, then we would be a priority target. They also understand the power of photography, reportage or cinema.”
In conversation with BBC the journalist asked Mstislav Chernov if he was afraid to take on a new project after the resounding success of “20 Days in Mariupol”. After Oscar, BAFTA and Pulitzer, expectations for any of his next work inevitably became extremely high.
“There was a fear of not doing enough, but it has nothing to do with expectations. Just you understand how much has been made of “20 Days in Mariupol”, what a large audience this tape has found and what impact, hopefully, positive, it will have on the world. And of course, when you take on a new job, you want it to find its audience, it is equally important both for Ukraine and for the international audience. Therefore, you carefully look for what is important at the very moment of shooting: what is important for you, what is important in the world. Looking for a universal theme. Let's put it this way: the expectations that come after the Oscars“, BAFTA and Pulitzer work the other way around: this is all already done and you can not think about it and only do cinema at all. “2000 meters to Andreevka” was made just like that.”
When asked by the journalist about where the Oscar statuette, which Mstislav Chernov received in 2024, is now stored, the director with a smile answered: “My daughters are playing with him now.”And added: “We respect such awards very much, but we should not take material objects too seriously, we must remember that both BAFTA, Oscar, and other awards were received for a film about human tragedies, this is the memory of people, it is more important than material awards.”
Then the conversation touched on the main topic - the new film “2000 meters to Andriivka”documenting an episode of the Ukrainian counteroffensive near Bakhmut. It has already been seen in different countries of the world, and the journalist asked how the international audience reacts to the tape.
“Different countries react differently. Interestingly, in America we showed this film even before Donald Trump won the election. Then the audience thought less about politics and more about just the personal histories of the military. Now, of course, the international audience sees this film also in a political perspective. And that, on the one hand, is good.
I really want people who constantly hear quite abstract information about Ukraine to feel differently. They see politicians meeting, they hear some statistics: the number of dead, the number of territories occupied by Russia... But these are all very abstract figures. If the film gives enough context to both politicians and the diplomatic corps, and just ordinary audiences, if it turns this abstraction into very specific faces of real people, obviously just civilians, who took up arms and went to defend their home, ready to die for Ukrainian land, for freedom, and frankly about That's what they say, it works. This is not the Soviet view of war, where everything is heroic and “all is well.” This is a very realistic and honest film. And I want this honesty to reach an international audience.
I see people coming out of the shows. I see how the distance between the cinema in Copenhagen, London, Paris and Bakhmut — by two or three thousand kilometers — is reduced. And that is why the film is called “2000 meters to Andreevka”. This is a film about distances: not only to Andreyevka, but also from Europe to us, to the Ukrainian military. Because, in fact, they are now defending Europe from Russian invasion. When a young man comes out after a show at a festival in Karlovy Vary and realizes that he has just seen the same young people, very close to his city, and that he himself could be in their place if his country does nothing to help Ukraine, it works.”
One of the key phrases of the film sounds like the question: “What if this is a war for the rest of our lives?”. Mstislav Chernov notes that most viewers perceive these words as belonging to the military, and in fact this question was asked in the film himself.
“This is an unanswered question. But I am more relieved that the people in whom I ask this — both Fedya and his brethren, and the other military on the front lines — know the answer: “We will keep fighting.” But for me it's fear — I don't want Ukrainian children to live and lose their childhood and youth in the war. I don't want their lives to be deformed by war.
This is the paradox: war is the most terrible thing that humanity can do, and at the same time there is an understanding that peace and freedom must be fought for, they are not free, they have their price. This paradox is embedded in my question.”
Chernov was also asked what he imagined on the day of the end of the war.
“I will be happy for my friends. And now I am not thinking about my feelings, but about those who are now on the front lines — military, doctors, volunteers, civilians who live in cities partially occupied by Russia. I know for sure that I will feel relieved. But it is not such a relief of “oh, I can rest”, but rather something like this: “how to take it off, how to show it, how to save it.” That is, even more work. But it will be a sense of relief for those who are left alive that their lives are no longer in danger. For every day you wake up and fear that you will see: one of your friends is no longer alive. That's my main fear.”
Finally, Mstislav Chernov said that gives him the strength to continue documenting the war already in the fourth year of a full-scale invasion:
“It seems to me that none of us, if we take us separately, has no strength left. If each of us is left alone, we will fall. But we do not fall thanks to the people nearby who hold us. You lean your shoulder on the person next to you — and go forward. It is not your forces, it is their forces: the military, doctors, volunteers, civilians who help the army, journalists, documentarians, politicians who seek peace in the political arena. All this supports you. Alone we have no chance.
I think the lesson we have learned (I hope we have learned) in the last six months is that if we want to survive and win this war, we can only hope for ourselves and the person who is with us. We cannot rely on America or Europe to help us. We are grateful to them, but survival is in the hands of our Ukrainian society. Likewise, my survival is in the hands of the people with whom I walk.”
In an interview for Sqvot Mstislav Chernov separately focused on the theme of music in the film “2000 meters to Andreevka”. The soundtrack for the film was written by Sam Slater, winner of two Grammy Awards, known for his work on the TV series “Chernobyl” and the film “The Joker”. Slater is a longtime friend of Chernov, and his wife is an Icelandic cellist who also participated in the recording of the music for the film. Mstislav Chernov shared that cooperation with the composer was the most interesting part of the work on the film.
“Sam specializes in creating music from sounds from the surrounding reality. For example, in Chernobyl they made music from the sounds of the reactor. When I came to him, he said, “Sam, let's make music that will partially take over the sound design task,” because we didn't have a sound designer. So we started collecting sounds from the battlefield. The sounds of the machine gun turned into the sounds of drums, the sounds of the radio - into a new musical instrument, which is not yet in the world. Together with a music producer, they even built a brand new instrument with a unique sound that had never been heard anywhere before, called the cobophone.”
However, in order to create a unique musical accompaniment, the composer first had to give a clear definition of the genre and give guidelines for the mood of a particular scene of the film. Here Mstislav Chernov had his own vision:
“I told Sam: “20 Days in Mariupol” is a horror film, and 2000 Meters to Andriivka is a war-drama, an action thriller, but one where you can't tell what's next. Then Sam asked me what the audience should feel in different scenes. For example, we have a funeral scene — I didn't want people crying on it. When I myself was there, at the funeral of Gagarin, Kobzar, I felt anger and dissonance. It was necessary for the audience to feel the same. Therefore, no piano, no harmony — there is a cello that is in dissonance with the voice. This dissonance is important: the cello and vocal cords vibrate, creating tension, and then the tension is gradually removed. And only in the last scene does harmony appear. This is the moment of catharsis, the only moment where you can cry. Because when you're on the battlefield, you don't cry.”
For Mstislav Chernov, it is important to completely immerse the viewer in an experience from which there is no escape:
“The main task of the film is to take the viewer and carry him through these 2000 meters so that he can not leave. Because when you or the military are there, in these circumstances, you can't say, “Everything, I left, thank you.” You stay. We wanted the audience to stay, too.”
At the end of the conversation, Mstislav Chernov shared his plans for the future. He works on both documentary and game projects, but his biggest dream is to make a film about the end of the war.
“I have a dream: to make a third film about the end of the war. I want the movie I'm making right now to be about the end of the war. Whether it will really be so, we will see, but my dream is alive.”
The premiere of the film with the participation of director Mstislav Chernov will take place on August 26 at 20:00 at the Oscar cinema (Gulliver shopping center). After that, special screenings with discussion will await the audience in Kyiv: on August 29 at 19:00 at “MULTIPLEX Respublika Park”, on August 30 at 16:30 at “Planet Cinema” (River Mall) and on August 31 at 16:45 in the cinema “Zhovten”. The series of meetings will end on September 1 in Lviv — at 19:00 in “Planet Cinema” (Forum Lviv), hall No. 1.
More details on the website Arthouse Traffic.
Mstislav Chernov— Ukrainian photographer, Associated Press journalist, director, war correspondent, president of the Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers, honorary member of PEN Ukraine and writer. He covered the Revolution of Dignity, the war in eastern Ukraine, the aftermath of the downing of the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777, the Syrian civil war, the battle of Mosul in Iraq, the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, including the blockade of Mariupol. For this work, he received Deutsche Welle Freedom of Speech Award, Georgy Gongadze Award, Knight International Journalism Awards, Biagio Agnes Award, Bayeux Calvados-Normandy Award, Elijah Parish Lovejoy Award, Free Media Awards. According to the results of 2022, he was included in the ratings “People of NV 2022 in the Year of the War” and “14 songs, photos and art objects that became symbols of Ukrainian resistance” from “Forbes Ukraine”, and video materials from Mariupol became the basis of the film “20 Days in Mariupol”, which in 2024 was for the first time in the history of Ukrainian cinema Awarded an Oscar.
Photographer's social networks: Facebook Instagram
Contributors:
Researcher of the topic, author of the text: Vira Labych
Picture editor: Olga Kovalyova
Literary Editor: Julia Futei
Site Manager: Vladislav Kukhar
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