Mstyslav Chernov

"I’ll be the first director on this stage who will say, ‘I wish I never made this film’. I wish to be able to exchange this to Russia never attacking Ukraine, never occupying our cities. I wish to give it all the recognition to Russia not killing tens of thousands of my fellow Ukrainians. I wish for them to release all the hostages, all the soldiers who are protecting their lands, all the civilians who are now in their jails. We can make sure that the history record is set straight and that the truth will prevail and that the people of Mariupol and those who have given their lives will never be forgotten."

"You need reality for the illusion to work. And you need the illusion to understand reality. But what do you need to create and understand a book? Where is a boundary between writer, reader, and charachter? How to know who is who?"