site.btaDocumentary about Holodomor in Ukrainian Bessarabia Screened in Kiyv

Pre-premiere screening of the documentary "Yona. Famine Insanity" took place in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv. The film gives Bessarabian Bulgarian artist Yona Tukuser’s perspective of the Holodomor in Ukrainian Bessarabia of 1946-1947.

Directed by Olena Kryvenko, the documentary is a production of the Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine, Suspilne.

Personal tragedies and national memory intertwine in Yona's work. For ten years now, Tukuser has been searching for the truth about the tragedy of 1946-1947, exploring the Holodomor and its consequences for Bulgarians in Ukrainian Bessarabia.

Tukuser draws parallels between the famine of 1946-1947 and the humanitarian catastrophe in occupied Mariupol in 2022, reminding the audience that the struggle for freedom continues.

Earlier in 2024, artworks by Yona Tukuser have been exhibited in the United States and Europe. She has lived in New York, Rome and London, but always returns to her native village of Glavan in Ukraine's Bolhrad District.

During the pre-premiere screening of the documentary, as proposed by Tukuser, the guests were given small glass jars full of wheat as a symbol of hope.