It will last from June 12 to 22, 2025 in Berlin Dokumentale'25 — International Documentary Film and Media Festival, within which the exhibition will be presented “Mariupol — The City That Refused to Die” in cooperation with Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers (UAPP).
In the exposition — the works of documentarians Mstyslav Chernov and Yevhen Maloletka made in Mariupol since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, February 24, until mid-March 2022. The photos capture the effects of the bombings of the hospital and residential quarters, mass burials, ruins, overcrowded hospitals and the hiding of city dwellers in basements and storerooms.
This footage was the only evidence of the horrors in besieged Mariupol. At that time, Chernov and Maloletka were the only photographers who covered the events from inside the city. Their work is not only to fix the facts, but also an act of courage, thanks to which the world learned the truth about the crimes of the Russian army.
“The dead were no longer numbers. You carried their stories in you,” - Mstyslav Chernov.
This exhibition is about presence, about the weight of testimony, about the dignity of those who have survived, and about our shared responsibility not to forget.
About the authors:
Mstyslav Chernov — Ukrainian military correspondent, director and photographer. Pulitzer Prize winner, founder of the Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers. His work has been published in The Associated Press, TIME, The New York Times, The Guardian, and has been exhibited in museums and festivals around the world.
Yevhen Maloletka — Ukrainian photojournalist, collaborates with The Associated Press. His focus is on the consequences of the war in Ukraine, social crises and human stories. Together with Chernov, he documented the events in Mariupol at the beginning of a full-scale war, for which he was awarded numerous international awards.
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