Poland. "Majdanek" concentration camp. Ceremonial opening of the memorial stone, which is dedicated to the Greek Catholic priest Omelyan Kovch. He was arrested by the Germans in January 1943 for helping the Jews. During his stay in the concentration camp, he continued to confess and give communion to prisoners.
Divine service at the memorial stone. Stand with photographs of concentration camp victims.

Omelyan Kovch. Priest of the "Majdanek" concentration camp

December 11, 2023, Vinnytsia.

The video features an interview on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the honorary veteran of the Second World War and Ukraine, retired colonel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, intelligence officer Olha Tverdokhlebova. She tells about her life, participation in the Second World War, awards, contusion, and the loss of her family.

Background: During the Second World War, Olha Tverdokhlebova was a scout and performed missions in occupied Poland and Germany. At the end of the war, Olha was already a commander of a maneuverable communications platoon.
In the first days of the full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war, she went to the military enlistment office and asked to become a sniper.
Among the veteran's awards are the Order of Bohdan Khmelnytsky, III class, the Order of Courage, III class, the Order of Princess Olha, III class, medals for courage, for combat merit, the Polish Grand Silver Order of the Commonwealth, and Soviet decorations.

Olga Tverdokhlebova: 100th anniversary of the intelligence officer

In the program "Coffee in Lviv", Lviv TV host Petro Ostapyshyn talks to the famous composer, performer, and leader of the Vatra band Ihor Bilohir. 

They discuss young talents, the recording studio, the present of Ukrainian pop music, and the composer's dreams.

The video includes musical pieces: "He Loves Me" and "Waltz".

Ihor Bilozir: a conversation over coffee

Ukrainian Studio of Television Films, 1993.

The film “Holoborodko’s Pastels” is dedicated to the poet Vasyl Holoborodko, known throughout the world but little known to the Ukrainian reading public.

In the video: landscapes of Kyiv, sketches of everyday life; students recite poems by Vasyl Holoborodko; the author talks about persecution by the Soviet authorities, photo archive of the Holoborodko family, demonstrates his own publications; landscapes of Luhansk region, nature, the village of Adrianopol, Luhansk region.

Contains an interview and recitation of Vasyl Holoborodko’s own poems.

Reference: Vasyl Holoborodko is a Ukrainian poet whose work is marked by deep folklore roots and a mythopoetic style. His poetry, marked by verlibre and rich metaphors, combines archaic ideas with modern reality, creating a unique world of images. In the Soviet Union, his works were banned due to his independent civic position and refusal to cooperate with the KGB, but they gained recognition abroad. The collections “Green Day” and “Icarus on Butterfly Wings” brought him the Taras Shevchenko National Prize of Ukraine.

Vasyl Holoborodko — the forgotten genius of the verlibre

Ukrainian Television Film Studio, 1994.

The film tells about the history of the village through the prism of the biography of the famous athlete-wrestler Ivan Maksimovich Poddubny, who was born and lived in the ancient Cossack village of Krasenivka in the Cherkasy region, his fellow countrymen who debunk the myth of the “Russian hero”.

On the video: photo archive, wrestling footage and fragments of films where Ivan Poddubny was filmed; Yeisk Historical and Local Lore Museum, exposition; residents of the village of Krasenivtsi talk about the Poddubny family, about the repressions of the Soviet government, the oblivion of fellow countrymen; competitions, everyday life in the village; fragments of black and white chronicles.

Reference: Ivan Poddubny is an outstanding Ukrainian wrestler, a six-time world champion, who became famous for his fair fight and invincible strength. Despite attempts by Russian propaganda to present him as a “Russian hero,” Poddubny spoke Ukrainian all his life, renounced US citizenship, and always emphasized his Ukrainian origin. He remained faithful to his people, despite persecution by the Soviet authorities and oblivion after his death.

World Champion Ivan Poddubny from the Village of Krasenivka

February 21, 2007.

A plot about the graphic artist, author of the Ruthenia font Vasyl Chebanyk. A journalist's stand-up routine, the Ukrainian alphabet in the Ruthenia font, letters from the Institute of the Ukrainian Language of the Academy of Sciences, the artist drawing letters, a workshop.

Commentary: graphic artist Vasyl Chebanyk; Doctor of Philology, Professor of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv Oleksandr Ponamariv; Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine for Humanitarian Affairs Dmytro Tabachnyk.

Vasyl Chebanik: author of the Ukrainian alphabet

March 12, 2011, Cherkasy.

A plot about the knight of Ukrainian literature - Vasyl Symonenko. Screensaver, museum, archival photos of the poet, amateur recording of Vasyl Symonenko reciting his poem “Swans of Motherhood”, exhibits.

Commentary: dissident Yevhen Sverstiuk; Symonenko's colleague from the newspaper “Youth of Cherkasy Region” Hryhoriy Sukhovershko; director Les Taniuk.

Vasyl Symonenko: a Knight of Ukrainian Literature

Ukrainian Studio of Television Films, 1988.

The documentary television film “At the Breaks of Time” is dedicated to the outstanding Ukrainian Soviet film director, brilliant sculptor and talented playwright Ivan Kavaleridze.

Contains little-known pre-revolutionary newsreel, as well as a chronicle of the first years of Soviet power.

The film presents an extensive gallery of portraits of prominent cultural figures of the past, Kavaleridze’s photo archive, fragments of his films and sculptures, and an interview with the playwright.

Director — Rostyslav Sinko.

Reference: Ivan Kavaleridze — Ukrainian sculptor, film director and playwright, known for combining avant-garde forms with traditional themes. In his avant-garde sculpture, he experimented with cubism and constructivism, most clearly manifested in his monument “Artem” (Svyatogorsk, 1927), which became a landmark example of Soviet monumental art. Among his film works, “Perekop” (1930), “Koliivshchyna” (1933), “Prometheus” (1936), “Grygoriy Skovoroda” (1959) stand out. As a sculptor, he also created monuments to Princess Olga in Kyiv, Taras Shevchenko in Romny and Poltava, and Hrygoriy Skovoroda in Lokhvytsa, forming a unique layer of Ukrainian modernism in monumental art.

Ivan Kavaleridze — Titan of Ukrainian Culture

Zaporizhzhia Regional State Television and Radio Company. The program “Dmytro Dontsov. Starry Integral” for June 7, 2003 is dedicated to the life story and formation of Dmytro Dontsov as the main ideologist of Ukrainian integral nationalism.

Contains interviews with researchers and black-and-white chronicles.

Comments: UPA veteran Vasyl Markovych; historian, head of the Department of History of the Bohdan Khmelnytskyi Melitopol State University Viktor Gudzia; head of the Dmytro Dontsov Regional Society Oleksandr Chernenko.

Reference: Dmytro Dontsov is a Ukrainian publicist, philosopher, political figure and the main ideologist of integral nationalism. He was an active participant in the struggle for the independence of Ukraine, the founder and editor of influential magazines and the author of the book “Nationalism”, which became the basis of the new nationalist ideology. Dontsov is known for his views on the importance of the national elite and the role of the struggle in the formation of the nation. His ideas had a great influence on the Ukrainian nationalist environment, in particular on the formation of the OUN and the UPA.

Dmytro Dontsov — Ideologist of Ukrainian Nationalism

The film “Cassandra” is dedicated to the life path of artist-human rights activist Stefania Shabatura.

The video shows folk festivities, among those present are Stefania Shabatura and her mother, People’s Artist Hanna Shabatura, walks in Lviv. The artist’s voice-over tells about her fate, about human rights and creative activities, the history of her family, and shows photos from the family archive.

Contains fragments of archival videos, in particular, the dismantling of the Lenin monument in Lviv in 1990.

Reference: Stefania Shabatura is a Ukrainian artist, activist, and member of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group. After being arrested in 1972 for anti-Soviet activities, she served her sentence in camps and later became an active participant in political and social movements, including the Memorial organisation and the People's Movement of Ukraine. After the declaration of Ukraine's independence, she received several state awards for her courage and contribution to human rights. 


Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

Dissident Stefania Shabatura

Chernivtsi television, 1988. The program is a memorial to Volodymyr Ivasyuk.

The program tells about the singer and composer: Vasyl Strikhovych, a television director; singers Nazariy Yaremchuk and Vasyl Zinkevych; writer Stepan Pushyk; singer and vocal teacher Olena Kuznetsova; and singers and soloists of the Smerichka VIA Sofia Rotaru and Myroslava Yehelenko. 

In the video: Volodymyr Ivasiuk at home, Nazariy Yaremchuk and Vasyl Zinkevych performing “Chervona Ruta”; Volodymyr Ivasiuk playing the piano at home; Nazariy Yaremchuk singing; Volodymyr Ivasiuk's parents Mykhailo Hryhorovych and Sofia Karyakina; sisters Oksana and Halyna Ivasiuk; “Song-71” - Volodymyr Ivasiuk, Vasyl Zinkevych and Nazariy Yaremchuk performing the song “Chervona Ruta”; Nazariy Yaremchuk talks to former members of the Smerichka Vocal Ensemble; “Song-72” - Nazariy Yaremchuk and Myroslava Yezhelenko, Smerichka Vocal Ensemble perform the song “Vodohrai”; Volodymyr Ivasyu is in the audience; Rosynka ensemble performs the song “Wheat rustles like the Danube”; Vasyl Zinkevych performs the song “Summer of Late Dahlias”; photos of Sofia Rotaru and Volodymyr Ivasyuk, Rotaru performs the song “Maple Fire”.

The program includes: film footage from 1968, fragments of Song-71, Song-72, and music. 

“Volodymyr Ivasyuk's Chervona Ruta": a program in memory

Lviv region, 1977. Amateur filming. 

The video shows the Ivasiuk family on a winter vacation: mountains, Halyna and Oksana Ivasiuk, Halyna Ivasiuk and her husband Liubomyr Krysa on the balcony, Volodymyr Ivasiuk and sister Halyna Ivasiuk. 

Personalities