Columbia University
International Conference on the Great Famine
Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Visualizing the Holodomor:
the Ukrainian Famine-Genocide of 1932-1933 on Film

The International Conference at Columbia University will mark the 75th anniversary of the Holodomor (Ukrainian for extermination by hunger) and will offer a novel approach to the study of the great famine and its significance for Soviet social engineering under Stalin.  It will focus on film, and filmmaking as a means to understand the consequences of the Holodomor for Ukraine and more broadly for European history.

The program includes a US premiere of the documentary film THE LIVING (2008) by Serhiy Bukovsky, director of the Steven Spielberg-produced documentary SPELL YOUR NAME (2006).


PANEL ONE 1:30-2:30 PM (Room 1512, International Affairs Building)

Dr. Roman Serbyn (University of Quebec at Montreal) - historical context of the Holodomor;

Dr. Yuri Shevchuk (Columbia University) - the Holodomor on film.


PANEL TWO 2:30-4:30 PM (Room 1512, International Affairs Building)

Natasha Mikhalchuk (Parson School of Design of the New School for Social Research) - presentation of KOLKY (2008), a moving story of discovery of the Holodomor as well as other dramatic aspects of recent        Ukrainian history;

Dr. Crispin Brooks (Curator, Shoah Foundation Institute Visual History Archive, University of Southern California) - eye-witness accounts of the Holodomor of Jewish Holocaust survivors.


PANEL THREE 7:30-10:00 PM (Rosenthal Auditorium, Schermerhorn Hall, Columbia Morningside Campus)

US Premier of THE LIVING, a feature documentary film by Serhiy Bukovsky.

Mr. Bukovsky (director) and Viktoria Bondar, (producer) will present and discuss their film on the Holodomor.  Thematically, the film is about the price of freedom and covers a period spanning the year 1917 (the Revolution in Russia and the struggle for independence in Ukraine) and the outbreak of World War II in 1939, with the events of 1932-33 serving as the basis of the plot.

All films are subtitled in English.

Please see attached poster.

Sponsored by the Ukrainian Studies Program of the Harriman Institute, Columbia University.

The Conference is FREE and open to the public.  For more information contact the Ukrainian Studies Program Office at 212-854-4697 or visit www.harrimaninstitute.org/programs/Ukrainian_studies_program.html