PROGRAM

Marking World Press Freedom Day
the Roosevelt House Human Rights Program
and PEN America
invite you to attend a documentary film screening
and post-screening discussion
20 Days in Mariupol

Please join us as the Roosevelt House Human Rights Program and PEN America co-host an in-person only screening of the film 20 Days in Mariupol followed by a post-screening discussion featuring director Mstyslav Chernov; former UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights and Roosevelt House Scholar in Residence Kyung-wha Kang; Senior Vice President and Executive Editor of the Associated Press Julie Pace; President of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine Sergiy Tomilenko; and moderated bySuzanne Nossel, CEO of PEN America.

20 Days in Mariupol follows a team of Ukrainian journalists from the Associated Press, trapped in the besieged city of Mariupol, as they struggle to continue their work documenting the atrocities of the Russian invasion. As the only international reporters remaining in the city, they capture what later became the defining images of the war in Ukraine: dying children, mass graves, the bombing of a maternity hospital, and more.

After nearly a decade covering international conflicts, including the Russia-Ukraine war for the AP, 20 Days in Mariupol is Mstyslav Chernov’s first feature-length film and an unflinching, anguishing account of the 20 days he and colleagues Evgeniy Maloletka and Vasilisa Stepanenko spent covering Mariupol. Drawing on Chernov’s daily news dispatches and personal footage of his own country at war, 20 Days in Mariupol is a vivid, harrowing account of civilians caught in the siege, as well as a window into what it’s like to report from a conflict zone, and a testimonial to the impact of such journalism around the globe.

Panelists:

Mstyslav Chernov is a Ukrainian photojournalist, filmmaker, war correspondent and novelist known for his coverage of the Revolution of Dignity, War in Donbas, including the downing of flight MH17, Syrian civil war, Battle of Mosul in Iraq, the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, including the Siege of Mariupol (for this work he received the Deutsche Welle Freedom of Speech Award, the Georgiy Gongadze Award, the Knight International Journalism Awards, and the Biagio Agnes Award, Bayeux Calvados-Normandy Award, Elijah Parish Lovejoy Award, Free Media Awards, at the end of 2022 was included in the nationwide Ukrainian ratings “People of the HB 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 was included in the competition program of the Sundance festival) as well as for his diverse photography exhibitions.

Dr. Kyung-wha Kang was the 38th and the first female Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea. During her ministerial tenure from June 2017 to February 2021, Dr. Kang endeavored to garner global support for the Republic of Korea’s initiative to engage with North Korea with a view to bringing about lasting peace and complete denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula, while also striving to diversify the country’s diplomatic relations with further regions and countries. Moreover, she actively participated in various multilateral discussions on human rights, nonproliferation, peacekeeping, development cooperation, and most recently COVID-19 pandemic response. Joining the Foreign Ministry in 1998, Dr. Kang specialized in multilateral affairs and intergovernmental organizations, and started her career with the United Nations in 2007 following her appointment as Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights. She was then appointed in 2013 to the post of Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator and Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs. In 2016, Dr. Kang served as Chief of the Transition Team of the Secretary-General-Elect. Subsequently, as Senior Advisor on Policy to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, she spearheaded initiatives to realize gender parity in his appointments and facilitated restructuring of the peace architecture in the Secretariat. She is currently a Roosevelt House Scholar in Residence.

Julie Pace is Senior Vice President and Executive Editor of AP, where she leads global news operations and oversees news content in all formats from journalists based in 250 locations in 100 countries. Pace joined AP in 2007 as a video producer and AP’s first multimedia political journalist, traveling throughout the U.S. during the 2008 presidential campaign and developing the cooperative’s plans for live video coverage of Election Day and the inauguration of Barack Obama. She is the recipient of the White House Correspondents’ Association Merriman Smith Award for writing on deadline and AP’s Oliver S. Gramling Award for Journalism, the news agency’s highest internal honor.

Sergiy Tomilenko is President of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU), an independent, non-governmental, organization that unites journalists and other media workers who are engaged in journalism and journalistic activities. The current main activities of NUJU are assistance for Ukrainian and international media journalists covering the war in Ukraine, and monitoring incidents with journalists during the war. He has worked as a journalist and an editor-in-chief in regional newspapers and news agencies since 1998. In May 2012, he was appointed the First Secretary of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine. Since 2013 Sergiy has been a member of the Public Council at the State Committee for Television and Radio of Ukraine, as well as a permanent representative of the NUJU on the Journalist Ethics Commission. He became the president of NUJU in 2017. Sergiy Tomilenko joined the Council on Freedom of Speech and Protection of Journalists under the President of Ukraine. He is also a member of the Steering Committee of the European Federation of Journalists.

Suzanne Nossel (moderator) is the CEO of PEN America, the foremost organization working to protect and advance human rights, free expression, and literature. She is author of Dare to Speak: Defending Free Speech for All which explores the importance of free speech in today’s complex and rapidly changing world. As CEO of PEN America, Nossel has led campaigns for free expression and press freedom around the world including Eurasia, Russia, China, Myanmar, and the United States.  She has extensive experience in the field of international human rights and has worked at various organizations, including the U.S. State Department, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International. A graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, Nossel frequently writes op-eds for The New York Times, The Washington Post, and other publications, as well as a regular column for Foreign Policy.