World premiere:
The Living
The Living sheds light on the Ukrainian mass famine staged by the Stalin regime between the years 1932-33. Here we meet men and women who were only children when everything was taken away from their parents. Farmers who had lived on and cultivated the world’s most fertile soil, were forced down into starvation’s slow death-grip. Those who managed to survive had to serve as the Soviet Union’s obedient slave army. Only now have these people begun to recount their stories. Only now are we beginning to understand that this catastrophe was only a part of Stalin’s cynical plan to create a “brave new world”.
The film is not just about "Holodomor", the great Ukrainian famine. It also takes up how the British journalist Gareth Jones’ reports about the tragedy were never given any attention in the West, as well as the apathy shown by many governments when faced with the suffering of others, and the hardships which this agricultural society has had to fight to overcome along the way towards regaining control of their own land. The Living is a film about survivors; they alone can stand up again.
Sergiy Bukovsky is the Ukraine’s most distinguished documentary film director. We are very happy to be able to present the Scandinavian premiere of his new film The Living which was first shown in the Ukraine in December. Bukovsky and the film’s producers will also participate in person during the festival.
