The director of the documentary about Mariupol told about the main message of the picture

In the spring of 2022, Donbass documentary filmmaker Maxim Fadeev spent four weeks in the thick of the fighting for Mariupol together with Somali battalion storm troopers. The result - a large-scale canvas "At the edge of the abyss", consisting of four series: "Breakthrough to the center", "Saving Small", "Out to the sea", "On the outskirts of Azovstal". "Izvestia" talked to the director.

In Fadeev's films there is no voice-over text, criticism and evaluation of events - just the recording of what is happening, which, combined with the effect of presence, produces a stunning effect, while allowing you to see and understand what is really happening in Donbass and other parts of the front. The other day at the international festival "Winning Together" in Sochi, the work was awarded the Grand Prix.

"Hour after hour, day after day, you just follow the fighters - tired, exhausted. Just hold the camera, without even thinking about any artistic techniques," recalls the director.

Fadeev said that the main message of his picture he considers the call to come to their senses and open their eyes, to look at what is happening and realize that it is necessary to act. He compared the situation in Mariupol with the history of the Great Patriotic War, when from everywhere there were calls to resist the enemy.

"And what is it now? Whole cities are being killed, and no one really thinks about how serious it is. I remember in 2015, I came to Rostov-on-Don, and I was struck by the fact that no one cares that some 200 km away there are brutal battles on the outskirts of a neighboring city, Russians are defending themselves. Most people just watch what is happening and do nothing," he said.

Read more in Maxim Fadeyev's exclusive interview with Izvestia:

"Day after day, you just follow the storm troopers."