The Famine and The Fight Against It

A documentary fiction propaganda film about the famine in Ukraine in 1921-1922. Among the causes of the catastrophe, in addition to drought, the film mentions the consequences of revolutionary events. It shows swollen children, destroyed factories and plants, burning villages, dead cattle, and a number of actions aimed at helping the victims: the work of the Commission for the Relief of the Starving under the All-Ukrainian Central Executive Committee, the organization of feeding stations, workers donating their three-day salary to help the famine victims, etc. The very first film made in Odesa under the auspices of the newly founded VUFKU in nationalized pavilions that until recently belonged to film magnates Kharytonov and Borysov. Mykhailo Kapchynskyi, director of the First Film Factory of the VUFCU, recalled: "We were able to print only three copies from the negative. Tens of thousands of people watched the film in the cinemas of the regional administration."