Remarks at 20 Days of Mariupol Film Screening

Elizabeth M. Allen:  Thank you for joining us.  We are delighted to welcome you into the Department for this very important event.  I want to start by thanking Nicole and the entire team from the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, who put today’s event on.  They are a force to be reckoned with, and we are so grateful for their efforts.

Today we gather not just as diplomats, officials, and media representatives, but as a community united in solidarity with the Ukrainian people.  We are here to acknowledge their indomitable spirit in the face of adversity, marking two years since Russia’s unjust and unwarranted, full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

And I’m deeply honored to welcome our distinguished guests here today, including: Her Excellency Oksana Markarova, the Ukrainian ambassador to the United States; Mstyslav Chernov, who is the creator of this film who we are deeply honored to have with us, Pulitzer Prize-winning; Raney Aronson-Rath, here you are, who is from PBS Frontline and co-producer on the film; and Susan Goldberg, President and CEO of Boston’s PBS station, WGBH.

It is also great to have with us here today Latvia’s ambassador to the United States, Māris Selga.  Thank you for joining us.  If he’s not here we know he’s joining us – we have a former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, Geoff Pyatt, who is now an Assistant Secretary here at the State Department, and he really wanted to be here.  We look forward to welcoming chef José Andrés as well at the conclusion of the film.

And I want to just also take a moment of personal privilege to acknowledge so many of you here from the Associated Press family – some of you who I know quite well.  I’ve been deeply honored throughout my whole career to work with journalists, believe deeply in empowering independent media as a personal priority, not just policy priority.  And it is a pleasure to work with Team AP, both in DC and all over the world.  So, we are so happy to partner with you on this event.

At the State Department, we share a core belief with organizations like AP, PBS, and Frontline on the profound power of independent media and of storytelling.  And film is such an incredible platform for storytelling.  By supporting the voices of filmmakers through initiatives like the American Film Showcase and the Global Media Makers program, we are fostering vital connections and professional growth amongst Ukrainian storytellers and their counterparts in the U.S. film industry.

Echoing my sentiments from an event at UNGA last fall at the Ukrainian Institute of America, I just want to reiterate here, my firm belief that cultural diplomacy is an essential component of our national security strategy.  Cultural policy is security policy.  And in these times, the authenticity and integrity of documentary filmmaking and independent media are paramount.  Films like 20 Days in Mariupol not only document reality, but actively counter the disinformation campaigns attempting to erase Ukrainian sovereignty, identity, and culture.

The Department of State, through our Embassy in Kyiv, has also continued to support independent media in Ukraine throughout the last few years, helping to bolster its strength, resilience, and reach.  That support has led to firsthand reporting and documentaries from the frontlines of Russia’s war in Ukraine, bringing powerful personal stories of the worst impact to local and international audiences and informing the world about the horrors that Russia continues to inflict on the people of Ukraine – those horrors that we’ll see so depicted in today’s film.

Through the Ukraine Media Partnership Program, we continue to support Ukrainian media with financial and technical assistance, as well as creating peer-to-peer professional networks between Ukrainian and American journalists.  And the State Department has also recently launched a new journalism fellowship program for experienced, independent journalists from Ukraine through the World Press Institute.

I say all this to say that it is our commitment to continue to lift up, empower, advocate for, and resource the voices that are showing what is happening on the ground – that are contributing to the entire world knowing what Ukraine’s identity and sovereignty mean, not just to them but all of us.

Mstyslav and his team’s dedication to chronicling the early days of the siege in Mariupol showcases the extreme risks that journalists and filmmakers undertake to illuminate the truth.  Their work has culminated in a compelling 90-minute narrative derived from 25 hours of raw courage and perseverance leading to that footage, laying bare the atrocities of Putin’s war.

The film we are about to view is undeniably stark.  Yet it is crucial for all of us to confront these truths and these images together.  It’s part of a larger narrative that we at the State Department are committed to sharing globally.  And we have screenings planned in more than 30 countries around the world for this film, from Albania to the Philippines, facilitated by our partnership with PBS and U.S. embassies.

President Biden has underscored a fundamental truth: unchecked aggression invites further chaos and further suffering.  So, it is a collective responsibility to ensure that such actions carry a tangible cost.  And it’s why it’s so important that we bear witness in films like these, to the atrocities that Russia is committing, but also to the resilience of the Ukrainian spirit.  We reaffirm here today our unwavering commitment to justice, peace, and accountability.  We stand united in our resolve to hold perpetrators of such heinous acts accountable.

And before I yield the floor to Ambassador Markarova, I wish to express my deepest appreciation to the brave souls behind this documentary and to journalists worldwide who confront danger to bring stories of conflict to light to us all.  And so now please join me in welcoming Her Excellency, Ambassador Markarova.