‘Ancestors in the Attic’ aired tonight on Global an episode about a man trying to look up his Ukrainian roots at the WWI internment camp in Spirit Lake, Quebec:
Growing up as a Ukranian-Canadian, Jerry Bayrak always faced prejudice. But he also heard whispers that his family dealt with even worse when they first arrived in Canada. No one would ever tell him anything about those early days. All Jerry’s Mom would reveal was that she grew up in a small town called Spirit Lake, near Montreal. But it wasn’t until Jerry began digging that he discovered that Spirit Lake was actually a World War I internment camp. Now, with the help of Ancestors in the Attic, Jerry begins a dramatic search to discover the truth about Spirit Lake and about one of the darkest chapters in Canadian history.
The Ukrainian Canadian internment was part of the confinement of “enemy aliens” in
Canada during and for 2 years after the end of
World War I, lasting from 1914 to 1920. About 5,000 Ukrainian men of Austro-Hungarian citizenship were kept in twenty-four
internment camps and related work sites, also known, at the time, as concentration camps. Another 80,000 were registered as “enemy aliens” and obliged to regularly report to the police. Those interned had whatever little wealth they owned confiscated.
It was an amazing movie to see, and it ended up
winning the HotDocs festival. When the movie was released on DVD it was only available in England but I was lucky enough to have some friends bring it over and it has been a pleasure to watch again. Here is a
trailer of the movie and some screenshots (click on them for a larger image):
Edit: I’m happy to report that now the DVD
is available to all on their official site and finally comes in NTSC format which can be played on North American DVD players. It’s about 16 pounds to purchase, but with the pound coming down recently now is a great to come to buy it!
I found this on
YouTube, a great video done by some students in Portland, Oregon. Their assignment was to learn about a genocide, and they chose the Holodomor. Great job!
Toronto — A film about a British neurosurgeon’s heroic efforts to bring relief to tumour victims in Ukraine has won the $10,000 award for best international feature documentary at the 15th annual Hot Docs festival. The North American premiere of The English Surgeon, directed by Geoffrey Smith, was one of seven films honoured last night at a ceremony in the Isabel Bader Theatre at the University of Toronto.
I was at the
first screening of this movie and it was very good! Unfortunately
the DVD is only available in Europe. Congratulations to director Geoffrey Smith for an excellent job!
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