Ukrainian director Mstyslav Chernov has won two major US film awards for “2000 Meters to Andriivka,” a documentary that follows a Ukrainian platoon fighting through a heavily fortified forest corridor to retake the frontline village of Andriivka from Russian forces.
The film won the Writers Guild of America Award for best documentary screenplay, awarded by the Writers Guild of America, where it competed against “Becoming Led Zeppelin” and “White with Fear.”
Chernov also received the American Society of Cinematographers Award in the documentary category together with Alex Babenko at the 40th annual ceremony of the American Society of Cinematographers.
The documentary tells the story of one Ukrainian unit ordered to cross about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) of mined and heavily defended forest to reach Andriivka, a strategically important village in eastern Ukraine destroyed during fighting.
As the soldiers move deeper through ruined terrain, the film captures both frontline combat and their growing sense that the war may continue indefinitely.
Filming began in September 2023 and lasted nearly a year and a half. Alongside Chernov and Babenko, the project involved producers Michelle Mizner and Raney Aronson-Rath, while the score was composed by Sam Slater, a two-time Grammy winner known for work on “Chernobyl” and “Joker.”
Like Chernov’s previous war documentary, “20 Days in Mariupol,” the film was produced as part of a collaboration between Frontline and Associated Press focused on documenting Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
