On 28 February 2017 at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, Canada, Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) President Eugene Czolij delivered an address during the premiere of the feature film about the Holodomor Bitter Harvest.
This is the first English-language feature film that is based on the most tragic page in the history of Ukraine, the Holodomor-genocide of 1932-33 orchestrated by the totalitarian and imperialist Stalin regime to quell the aspirations of the Ukrainian people to live in an independent state.
The feature film Bitter Harvest was produced by prominent Canadian philanthropist of Ukrainian descent Ian Ihnatowycz. The director of the film is George Mendeluk who, as co-author, wrote the screenplay with Richard Bachynsky-Hoover. The producers of the film include Ian Ihnatowycz, Stuart Baird, George Mendeluk, Chad Barager and Jaye Gazeley.
In his address the UWC President expressed great gratitude to Ian Ihnatowycz and everyone who contributed to the production of the film Bitter Harvest which portrays the human suffering during the Holodomor and the courage of the Ukrainian nation in the fight for its existence. Eugene Czolij noted that this film pays tribute to the millions of victims of the Holodomor and to those individuals who managed to survive against all odds.
“I call upon the Ukrainian World Congress network to popularize in all of its 53 countries the feature film Bitter Harvest and I believe that it will contribute to the recognition of the Holodomor as an act of genocide against the Ukrainian people by other countries in addition to the 16, including Ukraine, that have already done so,” stated UWC President Eugene Czolij. “I anticipate that this film will also help the West better understand the long history of the struggle of the Ukrainian people against Russian oppression, and subsequently help Ukraine to overcome the aggression of the Russian Federation that will lead to peace and stability in Europe.”
In the photo from left: Borys Wrzesnewskyj (Member of theCanadian Parliament), Paul Grod (President of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress), Yevhen Nyschuk (Minister of Culture of Ukraine), Ian Ihnatowycz (philanthropist and producer of the film Bitter Harvest), Eugene Czolij (UWC President) and Andriy Shevchenko (Ambassador of Ukraine to Canada)
