The Holodomor was a deliberate crime.
The Soviet regime seized grain, searched homes, and swept food even from children’s bowls.
Villages were sealed off. Roads were blocked. People trying to find food were shot.
Ukraine was forced into silence — and millions died in that silence.

Today, standing by the Holodomor Memorial in Toronto, it is impossible not to see how history repeats itself.
Russia is once again trying to destroy Ukraine.
Once again destroying cities, bombing homes, killing children.
Once again trying to take away the right to life, freedom, language, culture — the very same things it tried to erase in 1932–1933.

That is why the Holodomor is not only a tragedy of the past.
It is an unbroken line of evil, which has changed its form — but not its intention.

On November 22, 2025, thousands of people gathered in Toronto to honor the victims of the Holodomor.
Representatives of the federal and provincial parliaments, the city government, clergy, and the Ukrainian community bowed their heads together before a tragedy the world must never forget.

Among the voices heard at the ceremony was Mykola Latyshko — a Holodomor survivor born in 1927 in the Kherson region.
His words continue to remind us of a truth the Soviet regime tried to erase forever.

The memory of the Holodomor lives on in Canada —
in the voices of survivors,
in the young people who carry this history forward,
in the community that refuses to let this truth fade.

We remember.
We speak.
We honor.

#Holodomor #Голодомор #Toronto #HolodomorMemorial #NeverForget #UkrainianCanadianCongress #ECGProductions

Today we want to remind you of this story again.

This is the testimony of Valentyna Vlasenko about the Holodomor.
About her grandfather, Sydir Letuchy, who was deprived of everything — his land, his livestock, his right to live.
He lay down on the wooden loft, put a handful of straw under himself — and never got up again.

This is not fiction. This is not a metaphor.
It is the voice of a Ukrainian woman who preserves the memory of her grandfather — and of the millions who were destroyed by the system.

People often say: these were just the “splinters” of industrialization. That the famine was not only in Ukraine.
Yes, there was famine in 1921 and in 1946 as well. But in 1921 the whole world was helping Russia, and the famine was not concealed.
In 1933 in Ukraine it was different: the famine was deliberately silenced, villages were blocked, people were not allowed to leave — and these measures were not applied in the same way to the famine-stricken regions of Russia.

In Ukraine, it was necessary to deliberately crush resistance to collectivization.
In 1930, 4,098 peasant uprisings were recorded here — around 956,000 participants.
Peasants protested against total collectivization, dekulakization, grain requisitions, the closure of churches, against a regime that took everything down to the last grain.

The Holodomor of 1932–1933 became the decisive instrument to suppress this resistance.
The story of grandfather Sydir Letuchy is only one of countless such stories.

These photos are from the Holodomor exhibition that took place in Toronto at the St. Volodymyr Institute from October 28 to November 22, 2025.

From October 17 to 24, the iconic Ukrainian short film festival BARDAK IX took place at the DRUK art basement — the only film festival in Kharkiv dedicated exclusively to Ukrainian cinema.

The short musical film “Ivana Kupala” (produced by ECGProductions, directed by Yuliya Orlenko, cinematography by Serhiy Takhmazov) was screened in the non-competition section of the festival.
Yuliya made this film six months before Russia’s full-scale invasion, when life still felt peaceful, and Ukrainian folk songs sounded like a celebration of joy rather than a call to resistance.

During the filming, live songs performed by the Ukrainian folk group Bozhedary were recorded, creating a special, almost magical atmosphere.

The Bardak Festival is a true space of freedom and creativity. Its founder, Anton Frolov, now serving in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, continues to ensure that the festival lives on and inspires.

We sincerely thank the festival team and the Kharkiv audience for their warm welcome and support of Ukrainian cinema.

#BardakFestival #Kharkiv #UkrainianCinema #ECGProductions #IvanaKupala #YuliyaOrlenko #Bozhedary #UkrainianFilm #ShortFilm #MusicFilm

Air raid sirens are sounding again in Kyiv.
In September alone, Russia launched 5,638 drones and 185 missiles against Ukraine.

Our team in Toronto continues work on the documentary series “GULAG. Witnesses.” We are recording the voiceover for the episode 1932–1933: HUNGER AS A WEAPON. How the Ukrainian village was destroyed.

 Actress — Oksana Smilska
 Director — Olga Antimony
 Sound Engineer — Myroslav Delev

 At the heart of this story is the diary of a village schoolteacher, Alexandra Nikolaevna Radchenko (born 1896, near Izium, Kharkiv region). She was 36 years old when the Famine began.

It is difficult. To read someone else’s diary 92 years later. To read the lines of a person who wrote while children were dying around her and adults were forced to become “less than human” just to survive.

As we sat in a small studio room, voicing her words aloud, we lived together with HER.
We — who know about the Famine only from history books and the stories of our grandparents.
Here, it is the voice of one real person.
Her thoughts. Her pain. Her sense of that time.
No longer an abstract history — but a living human being with whom you feel related as you read and listen.

And it is impossible not to think about today.
Then — hunger, imposed by Moscow.
Today — missiles, deaths, ruined homes.
History repeats itself.

Why must Ukraine suffer?
That question sounds just as sharp today as it did ninety years ago.

#GULAGWitnesses #ГУЛАГСвідки #ГУЛАГСвидетели #HolodomorUkraine #ГолодоморУкраина #OlgaAntimony #OksanaSmilska #ECGProductions #ОльгаАнтимоні #ОксанаСмільська

At the Ukrainian Festival this month we captured a powerful scene for our documentary CODE 450: our main character Marichka performing live with Daughters of Donbas. Equally unforgettable, Oksana Smilska gave voice to the heartbreaking stories of children kidnapped during the war—her words held the audience in silence. It felt as if the sky itself echoed the strength of her music—an unforgettable moment that will become a key part of the film.
We’re now moving into the final stages of production.
Huge thanks to Marichka for an incredible performance and for sharing her story with such courage.
Directed by our talented colleague Olena Tumanska.

#CODE450 #DocumentaryFilmmaking #BehindTheScenes#UkrainianFestival #DaughtersOfDonbas #Marichka#

We do this together with our friends whom the war has brought into our lives.

 For ten years now, month after month, we have been standing by those affected. As long as people keep dying, we cannot remain indifferent.

 Join us in helping. Every action matters.

#Ukraine #HelpUkraine #ECGProductions #EveryoneHasTheirOwnWar #WarInsideThem

After recording an episode of The Interview Hour with Oleksandr Borodulia, artist of the Pavlo Virsky National Ensemble.

Once an artist — always an artist! Even years after leaving the stage, you can still feel the breath of performance, the spirit of the ensemble, and the love for art in every movement and every glance.

Today, Oleksandr lives in Canada, but he remains Ukrainian — not just by passport, but in soul, in heart, in every gesture and every word. Ukraine lives within him, no matter where he is.

Dance is not just a profession. It’s a state of soul that stays with you forever.

#GregoryAntimony #VirskyEnsemble #OleksandrBorodulia #ECGProductions #DanceOfLife #InterviewHour #DocumentaryFilm #UkrainianCulture #UkrainianDance