10 Things Everyone Should Know About Ukraine

10 Things Everyone Should Know About Ukraine

Made in partnership with the Ukrainian Institute and H.S. Pshenychnyi Central State Film, Photo and Sound Archive of Ukraine

’10 Things Everyone Should Know About Ukraine’ brings to life familiar and yet unknown stories about Ukraine. Ten short films [just over an hour in total] tell about famous figures, historical and cultural events in Ukraine, and invite to see Ukraine of ХІХ-ХХI in the local and world contexts.

Intro: 10 Things Everyone Should Know About Ukraine

Taras Shevchenko: The Serf Who Founded a Nation

The Many Voices of Ukraine

Lesia Ukrainka: Fin-de-siècle Ukrainian Feminism

Why Do Ukrainians Take To The Streets?

Les Kurbas: Ukrainian Avant-Garde Theatre

Fighting for the Self: Poetry from the Gulag

Holodomor: The Ukrainian Famine of the 1930s

Ukrainian Cinema: Giving a Voice to the Silenced

The Bloodlands: Ukraine in World War II

Andrei Sheptytskyi: A Count Who Became a Priest

Клептократія: Влада Крадіїв

Фільм Дениса Казанського та Дениса Каплунова

Kleptocracy (from Greek κλέπτης kléptēs, “thief”, κλέπτω kléptō, “I steal”, and -κρατία -kratía from κράτος krátos, “power, rule”) is a government whose corrupt leaders (kleptocrats) use political power to appropriate the wealth of their nation, typically by embezzling or misappropriating government funds at the expense of the wider population.

35th Anniversary of the Chornobyl Disaster

35th Anniversary of the Chornobyl Disaster

The Ukrainian Weekly | Sunday, May 4, 1986, No. 18, Vol. LIV

The_Ukrainian_Weekly_1986-18

On April 26, 1986, a tragedy of unspeakable magnitude occurred at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant in Northern Ukraine. At 1:23 AM, an explosion at the plant blew the concrete roof off Reactor #4 spewing huge amounts of toxic radioactive particles into the atmosphere. Other than immediate attempts by Chornobyl workers to put out the fire caused by the explosion, there was no official government reaction to this catastrophe – no announcements were made, no warnings given – nothing that showed the slightest concern for the population of Ukraine, or for the global community in general. In a deliberate act of what can only be seen as negligence and disregard for the safety of millions, Soviet authorities remained silent. Continue reading “35th Anniversary of the Chornobyl Disaster” →

35 Years Later: Remembering the 1986 Chornobyl (Chernobyl) Nuclear Disaster

The Ukrainian Museum in New York City

35 years ago today, on April 26, 1986, the worst nuclear accident in history occurred in Chornobyl (Chernobyl), Ukraine.

Chronicle of Severe Days (1986) | 6.5 min
Film by Volodymyr (Vladimir) Shevchenko | Narrated by Elena Filatova

What you will see:

  • Pictures of workers digging under the reactor wearing no protective equipment. They attempted to stabilize the melting base of the destroyed reactor.
  • Pictures of the workers on the roof of the reactor putting radioactive debris back into the radioactive container. Shevchenko made these pictures on the roof himself, and it is likely that he was exposed to excessive radiation at this point.
  • Shevchenko filmed a falling MI-24 helicopter. The helicopter flew directly over the destroyed reactor container, and the pilot likely suffered excessive radiation that debilitated him in the air.

Continue reading “35 Years Later: Remembering the 1986 Chornobyl (Chernobyl) Nuclear Disaster” →

Andrei Sheptytskyi: A Count Who Became a Priest

Made in partnership with the Ukrainian Institute and H.S. Pshenychnyi Central State Film, Photo and Sound Archive of Ukraine

The extraordinary story of Andrei Sheptytskyi, a count who gave up a life of wealth to become a Ukrainian Catholic priest, who saved Jewish lives in WWII and eventually founded Ukraine’s most modern university.

With Bishop Borys Gudziak, Archeparch of Philadelphia for Ukrainians and Metropolitan for the Ukrainian Catholic Church in the USA, President of the Ukrainian Catholic University.

The Bloodlands: Ukraine in World War II

Made in partnership with the Ukrainian Institute and H.S. Pshenychnyi Central State Film, Photo and Sound Archive of Ukraine

How the multiple occupations of Ukraine during the Second World War had a devastating impact on the populations of Ukraine, including the Holocaust.

With Professor Timothy Snyder, the Richard C. Levin Professor of History at Yale University and a permanent fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna.

Ukrainian Cinema: Giving a Voice to the Silenced

Made in partnership with the Ukrainian Institute and H.S. Pshenychnyi Central State Film, Photo and Sound Archive of Ukraine

Throughout its history, Ukrainian cinema has captured the plight of marginalised peoples and identities, allowing those forgotten or hidden from society to come to life on screen.

With Dr Olga Bryukhovetska, Associate Professor of Cultural Studies at the National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy.

Lesia Ukrainka: Fin-de-siècle Ukrainian Feminism

Made in partnership with the Ukrainian Institute and H.S. Pshenychnyi Central State Film, Photo and Sound Archive of Ukraine

How Ukrainian modernist writer Lesia Ukrainka (1871-1913) pioneered a new feminist literature, at the forefront of European trends of the time.

With Dr Sasha Dovzhyk, Associate Research Fellow, Birkbeck, University of London.

Holodomor: The Ukrainian Famine of the 1930s

Made in partnership with the Ukrainian Institute and H.S. Pshenychnyi Central State Film, Photo and Sound Archive of Ukraine

Why Should the World Care?’ How the Holodomor fits into the wider understanding of Stalin’s USSR, and how the famine was covered in world media.

With Dr Daria Mattingly, Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellow and Affiliated Lecturer in Slavonic Studies, University of Cambridge.