pinterest pin it

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Сходи Якова (Jacob's Ladder) DVD

Documentary, 53 min. Ukrainian, 53 min. English translation


Three men have met in the rooftop café of an old house in Lviv, Ukraine. They sit high above the housetops, spires, and towers of a variety of architectural styles reflecting the centuries of Lviv’s existence. Age and illness have dimmed the vision of two of the three friends but they can easily recall the historical epochs that they lived through.
In 1944, they were classmates at the First Lviv Grammar School. That year—as World War II raged—spelled a parting of the ways for these three lads from Galician noble families. One wound up in North America; another made a horrific journey through the Gulag Archipelago; the third was able to remain in his homeland.


70 years later, they meet in Lviv: an outstanding Ukrainian oncologist Borys Bilynsky; a monk and former Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church Lubomyr Husar; long-term prisoner of Soviet camps Yuriy-Bohdan Shukhevych.

Here are their biographies in brief:

Borys Bilynsky, born 1933 in the city of Zbarazh, Ternopil Region. He is an alpinist and a leading Ukrainian oncologist, doctor of medicine, professor, and author of more than 200 scientific works including the first oncology textbook in Ukrainian.

Lubomyr Husar, born 1933 in Lviv. He emigrated with his family in 1944, ending up in the USA. In 1958 he was ordained to the priesthood there. In 1972 he went to Rome and joined the Studite Order.  In 1977 Patriarch Josyf ordained him bishop for the Church in Ukraine. He is a Cardinal in the Catholic Church and was the Major Archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church from 2001-2011.

Yuriy Shukhevych, born 1933 in the village of Ohlyadiv in Lviv Region. He is a Ukrainian politician, Soviet dissident and political prisoner, son of the Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) Roman Shukhevych. The UPA was a partisan army fighting both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. Yuriy Shukhevych was arrested at the age of 15 and spent more than 40 years in Soviet prisons and camps and in exile. 


Film writer and director LESYA KHARCHENKO

Produced by PAVLO KAZANTSEV

SCREEN MEDIA UKRAINE PRODUCTION

This film was created as a part of the “Lubomyr” Project with donations from people from all  over the world.