Yanchuk continues to explore Ukraine's history with Sheptytsky film (08/20/06)

Yanchuk continues to explore Ukraine's history with Sheptytsky film

by Khristina Lew

NEW YORK - Ukrainian filmmaker Oles Yanchuk gets visibly excited when he talks about Ukrainian history, especially those chapters he hopes to illuminate for the Ukrainian viewer. "My mother wanted me to become a historian," he chuckled during a recent meeting in Manhattan. "Historical themes interest me, particularly themes unknown to a Soviet audience," he said.

His zeal to expose Ukraine's historical past resulted in the ground-breaking, award-winning film "Famine-33," a haunting depiction of one family's struggle during the Great Famine, which was released in 1991. The film was pioneering on many levels: it was the first during the Soviet era to explore the taboo subject of the Holodomor, and it was financed entirely by donations from Ukrainians around the world, sidestepping state sponsorship and, by extension, state censorship.

"I gave two-three years of my life to 'Famine-33,' and when I saw the reaction of the audience, the emotion - not just in Ukraine but in Europe and the United States as well - I realized that it was better to devote my time to themes that enchant people," he said.

"Famine-33" was screened in New York at the Film Forum in 1993 and was positively reviewed by The New York Times, New York Post, Village Voice and Time magazine.

His latest project, a feature-length film about the life and times of Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, called "Vladyka Andrey," should be equally captivating. The original screenplay, based on documents and facts from the life and work of Sheptytsky, traces the evolution of both the spiritual pastor and the political activist, against the backdrop of Ukraine's tumultuous history: as part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Poland and the USSR, the war years, the occupation of Lviv.

Mr. Yanchuk said "Vladyka Andrey" is really a psychological drama, an exploration of Sheptytsky as a person. "Who is this man? Why did he choose this path of religious life?" he ruminates.

Andrey Sheptytsky (1865-1944), metropolitan of Halych, archbishop of Lviv and bishop of Kamianets-Podilskyi, played an important role in both Ukraine's spiritual and political growth. He cultivated the Ukrainian character of the Greek-Catholic Church and was instrumental in maintaining the Church's integrity until his death. Sheptytsky also was a member and vice-marshal of the Galician Diet (Parliament) and a member of the Austrian House of Lords and the Imperial Ministerial Council, championing the rights of Ukrainians in Halychyna and later supporting Ukraine's struggle for independence.

"Sheptytsky the man is not known in Ukraine," said Mr. Yanchuk. "In Central and East Ukraine, people only know of him from Soviet propaganda - that he collaborated with the Nazis. To see the true face of Sheptytsky - for me, that is very interesting."

Mr. Yanchuk has rehearsed several actors for the role of the metropolitan, and said that he will have several "Andreys." "If this was a Hollywood production," conceded Mr. Yanchuk with a smile, "we would be able to age one actor - and we will try to do this - but, most likely, we will use two."

The film will be shot in Lviv and Lviv Oblast, Rome (Mr. Yanchuk has a small scene set in the Vatican) and Suzdal, Russia. Mr. Yanchuk anticipates that he will begin shooting this September; a tentative release date for "Vladyka Andrey" is July 2007.

The majority of the film is financed by Ukraine's Ministry of Culture and the Lviv Oblast Administration. Self Reliance New York Federal Credit Union recently made a substantial donation to the project. Mr. Yanchuk serves as the film's producer; co-production billing is shared with the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, Mr. Yanchuk's longtime partner.

That fortuitous relationship began in December 1993 when Mr. Yanchuk arrived in New York to screen "Famine-33" at the Film Forum. With the screenplay for a film titled "Assassination" in hand, he met with then-UCCA President Askold Lozynskyj to discuss financing.

The UCCA's Executive Board subsequently agreed to become producer of the film, the story of the murder of Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists leader Stepan Bandera, and the rest, as they say, is history. Mr. Yanchuk and the UCCA have co-produced two films: the a fore-mentioned "Assassination: An Autumn Murder in Munich" (1995) and "The Undefeated" (2000), a biopic of Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) Commander-in-Chief Roman Shukhevych. "Vladyka Andrey" will be their third joint production.

Mr. Yanchuk was born in 1956 in Kyiv and graduated from the Kyiv State Institute for Theater Arts. His other films include "Taking Off" (1989) and "The Company of Heroes" (2004), a Ukrainian-Australian feature film based on the recollections of Yuri Borec, an UPA veteran who survived a joint Soviet-Polish deportation campaign in western Ukraine.

"Film is a lyrical depiction of life," Mr. Yanchuk has said of his work. "And life is not scripted."

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For more information about "Vladyka Andrey" or Mr. Yanchuk's other films, contact the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, 212-228-6840.

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