Director, journalist, and founder of the Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers Mstyslav Chernov became a laureate of the Directors Guild of America (DGA Awards). The director received the award in the category “Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary for 2025” for the film “2000 Meters to Andriivka”.
The award ceremony took place at the 78th annual DGA Awards on February 7 in Los Angeles. The Directors Guild of America Award is an annual event that honors directorial achievements in film, television, and radio.
Mstyslav Chernov received this award for the second time — previously, in 2023, he was honored for the film “20 Days in Mariupol”.
“Thank you to everyone who defends my home, and to every Ukrainian director who tells these stories to the world”, — wrote the director on social media after winning the Directors Guild of America Award.
The film “2000 Meters to Andriivka” tells the story of a combat mission of a Ukrainian unit near Bakhmut, accompanied by journalists. Together, they break through mined forests to liberate the strategically important village of Andriivka in the Donetsk region from the occupiers.
Mstyslav Chernov worked on the documentary together with cinematographer Oleksandr Babenko, producers Michelle Mizner and Rainy Aronson‑Rath, and composer and music producer Sam Slater (“Chernobyl”, “Joker”). Filming of “2000 Meters to Andriivka” began in September 2023. The production process took nearly a year and a half. The film was created in collaboration between Frontline and the Associated Press.
In January 2025, for “2000 Meters to Andriivka”, Mstyslav Chernov received an award for Best Directing in the World Cinema Documentary category at the Sundance Film Festival. In December, the documentary “2000 Meters to Andriivka” was included in the shortlist for the Academy Award in the category “Documentary Feature Film”. It was also included in the longlist for the BAFTA Award in the category “Best Documentary”. Read the full list of awards in the material.
Mstyslav Chernov — a Ukrainian photographer, journalist, director, war correspondent, founder of the Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers, honorary member of Ukrainian PEN, and writer. He covered the Revolution of Dignity, the war in eastern Ukraine, the aftermath of the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 777, the Syrian civil war, the battles of Mosul in Iraq, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, including the siege of Mariupol. For this work, he received the Deutsche Welle Freedom of Speech Award, the Georgiy Gongadze Prize, the Knight International Journalism Awards, the Biagio Agnes Award, the Bayeux Calvados‑Normandy Award, the Elijah Parish Lovejoy Award, and the Free Media Awards. Based on the results of 2022, he was included in the rankings “NV People 2022 in the Year of War” and “14 songs, photos, and art objects that became symbols of Ukrainian resistance” by Forbes Ukraine, and video materials from Mariupol became the basis of the film “20 Days in Mariupol”, which in 2024, for the first time in the history of Ukrainian cinema, was awarded an Academy Award.
Photographer's social networks: Facebook Instagram
Worked on the material:
Topic researcher, text author: Yana Yevmenova
Picture editor: Olga Kovalova
Literary editor: Yuliia Futei
