Watch the trailer for the urgent Ukrainian documentary Mariupol. Unlost Hope ahead of its NYC screening at the Scandinavia House on Tuesday, November 1. The film utilizes audio recordings of eyewitness testimony—from two men and three women—who were living in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol when the Russians invaded on February 24, 2022. The film also features Mariupol-based journalist Nadezhda Sukhorukova, who recounts her experiences in the wake of the war directly to the camera.

Of the film, Sukhorukova stated in a press release, “I want people to understand the absurdity of the situation and feel that thousands are dying because of the malice, cruelty, and hatred of the Russian occupiers. It is important for me that every crime of the rashists is recorded, and they bear responsibility for all this.”

Once a bustling city of 541,300, the Russian siege of Mariupol resulted in 21,000 citizens dying. The city still remains in ruins, without electricity, gas or running water. Additionally, 43,000 Ukrainian citizens from Mariupol have been deported to Russia or Russia-occupied territories.

“The film doesn’t have any author’s voiceover, staged shots, no narrative,” explained director Max Lytvynov in a statement. “This film is about the truth of peaceful people inside the war. They tell without fear what they saw, how they felt and what happened to them. Imagine, for several weeks, the systemic destruction of a city of half a million, and these people were inside it.”

For more information and to purchase tickets for the November 1 screening of Mariupol. Unlost Hope visit Eventbrite. The event is organized by the Organization of Ukrainian Producers (OUP), which was founded in March of this year in response to the Russian army’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Mariupol. Unlost Hope’s producer Volodymyr Borodyansky concluded via press release: “The war continues. The heroes of our films have survived. Now, before the eyes of the whole world, the Russians, with the help of their puppets and quasi-republics, are preparing a demonstrative ‘tribunal’ over the defenders of Mariupol…The Russians are trying to erase the very memory of their crimes and create another pseudo-reality…Our film Mariupol. Unlost Hope initially aimed to fix everything we can to prevent reality from being distorted.”