The Cannes Film Festival has added another film to its official selection: the documentary Mariupolis 2, from director Mantas Kvedaravicius, who was killed in Ukraine in early April while working on the movie.
The film is a follow-up to Kvedaravicius’ 2016 doc Mariupolis, which followed the lives of everyday citizens in Mariupol as the threat of war with Russia escalated. Kvedaravicius returned to Mariupol this year to document Russia’s invasion of the country. He was killed there on April 2 at the age of 45. The city of Mariupol has been nearly completely destroyed by the Russian military.
In a statement at the time, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry wrote: “While [he was] trying to leave Mariupol, Russian occupiers killed Lithuanian director Mantas Kvedaravicius.”
Kvedaravicius’ fiancée, Hanna Bilobrova, who was with him in Mariupol and is credited as a co-director on the new film, was able to bring back the footage filmed there and cut it together with editor Dounia Sichov to finish Mariupolis 2. The film will screen on May 19 at the Buñuel Theatre in Cannes and on May 20 at Agnès Varda Theatre.
“It was essential to show it [so] we added it,” the festival said in a statement.
Cannes has publicly condemned Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and has banned the official Russian delegation from this year’s festival.
