Starting this weekend, you can support the people of Ukraine by going to the movies.
“The Guide,” an award-winning 2014 film from Ukrainian director Oles Sanin, is opening in multiplexes across the U.S. on Friday with box-office proceeds going to the Human & Civil Rights Organizations of America’s Ukraine Relief Fund.
The movie, selected as the Ukrainian entry in the foreign-language category at the Academy Awards in 2015, has direct parallels with what’s going on currently, as the story revolves around the friendship between an American boy and a blind minstrel in 1930s Ukraine, when millions in the region were being starved to death by Stalin’s Soviet Union.
Sanin, under lockdown somewhere in Kyiv, has added an introduction to the film, which is unrated but contains some graphic wartime violence. To find a theater and buy tickets, go toStandwithUkrainethroughfilm.com。
In the Houston area, multiplexes showing the film include Regal Edwards Greenway Grand Palace in Houston, ShowBiz Cinemas Liberty Lakes in Houston, Regal Edwards West Oaks Mall in Houston, Regal Grand Parkway in Richmond, Regal Lone Star in Tomball, ShowBiz Cinemas in Kingwood and Regal Bender’s Landing in Spring.
“Less than two weeks ago, I offered my cinema in suburban Boston to show ‘The Guide’ as a fundraiser for Ukraine relief,” said Marshall Strauss, board president of the Human & Civil Rights Organizations of America, which was established in 1994, in a release. “Almost instantly, the effort exploded in size and key industry leaders joined the project, donating their services. Now, cinemas across the country are agreeing to show this milestone movie. The director and I agreed on only one condition: Ticket proceeds are to go to humanitarian relief for Ukraine.”
According to the release, “proceeds from the fundraiser will be forwarded to selected nonprofit 501(c)(3) organizations already active in providing humanitarian assistance to the Ukrainian people in Ukraine and nearby countries. Among those to be supported will be the International Red Cross and the International Organization for Migration.”
The film will be delivered by satellite through Digital Cinema Distribution Coalition, and distribution is being handled by Falling Forward Films. All are working free of charge.
“The Guide” is just one example of what was a thriving film industry in Ukraine. Other notable recent Ukrainian films include: “Bitter Harvest” (2017), another drama set during terrible famine of the 1930s; “The Tribe” (2014), a spellbinding movie told through sign language and no subtitles about crime and fear at a high school for the deaf; and “The Rising Hawk” (2019), a war story set in the 13th century, starring Tommy Flanagan and Robert trick from “Sons of Anarchy.”
cary.darling@chron.com