The film “2000 meters to Andriivka” will compete for the Oscar in two categories
2 September 20:40
The documentary film 2000 meters to Andriivka, directed by Mstislav Chernov, has won a chance to compete in two nominations at the Oscars 2025. Chernov told Ukrinform about this, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
According to the author himself, thanks to the victory at the DocAviv International Film Festival (Israel), the film automatically qualified not only for the Best International Feature Film category, but also for the Best Documentary Film category .
“We will be competing for the best documentary, which is a different category. I don’t know what the result will be, but I hope for the best,” Chernov said.
He emphasized that 2025 was an unprecedented year for Ukrainian documentary filmmaking. According to him, he has seen at least 15 Ukrainian films at international festivals alone, and they all represented the country with dignity.
“2025 is actually a golden year for Ukrainian documentaries. Some of these works will definitely reach a wide audience. This guarantees us that Ukraine will remain in the film context this year, we will be talked about and watched,” the director emphasized.
The film 2000 meters to Andriivka tells the story of the Third Assault Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the battles for the village of Andriivka in Donetsk region. This film will officially represent Ukraine at the 98th Academy Awards in the Best International Feature Film category. In total, eight films were shortlisted.
Ukraine has been participating in the Oscar selection process since 1997, when the first contender was the film The Dead Man’s Friend by Vyacheslav Kryshtofovych. Since then, the country has annually nominated films in the Best International Feature Film category, but only a few have been shortlisted.
The first high-profile success was Serhiy Loznitsa’ s Donbas (2018), which won the Best Director prize in the Un Certain Regard program at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for an Oscar from Ukraine.
In the 2020s, the international community’s attention was drawn to films that directly highlighted the consequences of the Russian-Ukrainian war. In 2023, the film Klondike by Marina Er Horbach, which won awards at Sundance, was selected for the Oscar.
A landmark breakthrough was the film 20 Days in Mariupol by Mstyslav Chernov, which won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature in 2024 . It was Ukraine’s first victory in the history of the prestigious film award.
It was after this success that Ukrainian documentary cinema received special attention. New works by the directors often appear at international festivals and receive high critical acclaim, strengthening Ukraine’s cultural diplomacy.
