L-R: At Hudson Film Festival entrance to the documentary showings, filmmaker Yurij Luhovy, Maurice (Myroslav) Panchyshyn with Festival founder-director Clint Ward. Photos: MML Inc.
Zorianna Hrycenko-Luhova.
Quebec film screenings of the multi-award-winning documentary films “Recovery Room” and “Genocide Revealed” continue to bring attention and broader understanding to the ongoing genocidal war on Ukraine with Russia’s full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022. The documentaries have been invited to several festivals.
The 2022 Hudson Film Festival held in Hudson, Quebec featured the documentary “Recovery Room” directed by Adriana Luhovy, on May 21. “Bringing the best of Canadian and international films and artists across Canada”, The Hudson Film Festival, is affiliated with TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) and supported by Telefilm Canada and others.
Screened on the 87th day of Russia’s invasion, “Recovery Room” tells the story of hope, resilience and compassion in a time of war, the war which begun in eastern Ukraine in 2014. It tells of the humanitarian Canadian medical missions to Ukraine organized by the Canada Ukraine Foundation (CUF). Based on interviews with medical personnel and wounded soldiers, the documentary shows the scars and psychological trauma of war.
The film was preceded by pre-recorded remarks by Adriana about being part of the medical mission as official photographer and the making and filming of the documentary in Kyiv’s Main Military Clinical Hospital (founded in 1755). Also screened was the National Film Board (NFB) vignette “The Easter Egg” directed by Yurij Luhovy. The “Recovery Room” screening was followed by a half-hour question and answer interaction with the audience and the film’s producers Yurij Luhovy and Zorianna Hrycenko. The discussion was moderated by Hudson Film Festival founder and director Mr. (Captain) Chris Ward who helped establish a flourishing art scene in Hudson, Quebec.
A silent auction fund-raiser for Ukraine’s war effort was organized for CUF at the entrance to the film by Hudson resident and long-time supporter of the Festival, Mr. Maurice Panchyshyn. The annual Hudson Film Festival is located in the picturesque town of Hudson, Quebec (originally settled in the early 1700’s) located 45 km from Montreal. It takes place at the Hudson Village Theatre and cultural centre, a converted 19th century train station.
The 2022 Knowlton Film Festival “featuring films from Quebec, Canada and around the world”, on August 28, included the documentaries “Recovery Room” and Yurij Luhovy’s “Génocide d’une Nation” (the French-language version of award-winning documentary “Genocide Revealed”), narrated by internationally acclaimed, Oscar-nominated actress Geneviève Bujold. The documentary exposes Moscow’s policy of genocide against the Ukrainian nation. It focuses on the 1932-33 man-made famine in Soviet Ukraine engineered by Stalin’s regime and the accompanied decimation of the national elite and destruction of Ukraine’s’ historical past.
At Knowlton Film Festival, Bohdana Zwonok at entrance with a fundraiser table in support of humanitarian aid for Ukraine
Screened on the 186th day of Russia’s war on Ukraine, the two documentaries and their producers Yurij Luhovy and Zorianna Hrycenko were introduced in English and French by Knowlton resident and Festival supporter, Ms. Bohdana Zwonok. Following the screenings, a bilingual question-and-answer period was held with the films’ producers about the war’s global impact on peace and security, and questions about Moscow’s repeated efforts to colonize Ukraine. Mention was made of 31-year-old volunteer soldier from Montreal, Emile-Antoine Roy-Sirois, killed by Russian bombardment in Ukraine’s Donbas region on July 18, 2022. He was buried in Montreal as a hero of Ukraine. During the screenings, much sadness emanated from the viewers.
At the entrance to the screenings, a fundraiser table in support of Ukraine was organized by Ms. Bohdana Zwonok with proceeds going to CUF. Ms. Zwonok previously helped in a major Quebec fundraiser for Ukraine which raised over twenty-seven thousand dollars for CUF.
The Film Festival was held in Knowlton’s Theatre Lac Brome in the Eastern Townships of Quebec and was sponsored by Hydro Quebec, Caisse Desjardins, City of Lac Brome and others. The historic village of Knowlton (founded in early 1800’s) is located along the shores of Lac Brome, 120 km from Montreal.
During Montreal’s 22nd annual Ukrainian Festival on September 10, complimentary DVDs of “Recovery Room” and “Genocide Revealed” were presented in welcome gift-bags by UCC-Montreal representatives to each VIP guest to further information about the war and acts of genocide on Ukraine. A record number of dignitaries, government and community representatives attended the Ukrainian Festival expressing their solidarity with Ukraine.
The Quebec Association of Geography Teachers and Global Educators will be screening on November 26, the feature documentary “Genocide Revealed”, directed by Yurij Luhovy, and narrated by Graham Greene, an Academy Award nominated, indigenous Canadian actor. Organized by Mr. Cameron Gray and his team, the event will be held at the Norwegian Community Center in Lachine. The documentary continues to be timely and relevant to Russia’s war on Ukraine in 2022, exposing similar brutal policies in the past. The screening will mark the 90th anniversary of the Holodomor (1932-2022). The Association’s annual publication titled “Geoscope”, in 2018 published a special issue on genocides and listed in the Canadian Education index.
The French version “Genocide d’une Nation” will be screened this fall in Theatre du Cuivre (Copper Theatre) Cultural Centre in Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec, organized by Emilie Villeneuve.
Comments about the documentary “Genocide Revealed” include: “Powerful film…” (Andrew Stuttaford, National Review online); “Compelling, informative, well executed” (Bruce Cowley, CBC-TV); and “The best documentary on the Holodomor” (Prof. Roman Serbyn, historian). Comments about “Recovery Room” include: “Outstanding…remarkable and very insightful documentary” (Dr. Oleh Antonyshyn); “Defies indifference…evokes outrage at the injustice of the war” (Lana Babij, retired librarian) and “Best documentary on the Revolution of Dignity and its aftermath” (Alexandra Chyczij). For further information on “Recovery Room” visit: recoveryroomthemovie.com; and “Genocide Revealed” visit: www.yluhovy.com. Trailers of the films are on the websites.
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