By Max O’Malley
The New York Times has spotlighted a Ukrainian film that brings the forgotten truth of the “Executed Renaissance” back to public attention—a generation of Ukrainian artists executed under Stalin’s regime. The film, Slovo House: Unfinished Novel, was produced with the support of a Ukrainian philanthropic family that previously backed Atlantis, a film about the war in Donbas, which won the top prize at the Venice Film Festival.
Just three years ago, it would have been unimaginable for The New York Times—one of the world’s most prominent newspapers—to publish an in-depth article on the “Executed Renaissance.” This cultural flowering of Ukrainian artists in the 1920s and 1930s was systematically destroyed—both physically and morally—by Stalin’s totalitarian regime, which sought to erase Ukrainian identity. On December 4, the New York Times published an article titled “Stalin Silenced These Ukrainian Writers. The War Made Them Famous Again.” The piece covers the history of the “Executed Renaissance” and other Kremlin-led attempts to annihilate Ukrainian culture, including mentions of the Holodomor genocide of 1932–1933—a topic that has gained significant attention in the West since 2022.
It’s worth noting that even in Ukraine, efforts to revive the memory of writers, artists, and filmmakers repressed by Stalin have only gained momentum in the past decade.
The title of the article by The New York Times
The article, authored by New York Times journalist Constant Méheut, includes significant research. Méheut interviewed Ukrainian filmmaker Taras Tomenko, who directed Slovo House: Unfinished Novel, the first feature film dedicated to the history of the “Executed Renaissance.” The film premiered in Ukraine on May 9 of this year, generating significant public and critical acclaim.
In the New York Times article, Slovo House is described as “one of the most-watched Ukrainian movies this year.” The film’s success appears to have drawn Méheut’s attention to the topic, prompting him to visit frontline Kharkiv. There, he personally observed the former Slovo House—the residence of Ukrainian writers in the 1930s—which was damaged in March 2022 during the ongoing war. In his article, Méheut detailed how the Kremlin systematically targeted Ukrainian artists, destroying their lives and works in its effort to suppress Ukrainian identity:
“On May 13, 1933, Mr. Khvyliovyi gathered fellow writers in his apartment to discuss the situation. During the meeting, he went into his room and shot himself in the head.”
““Khvyliovyi did that to send a warning, to show what was coming,” said Taras Tomenko, the director of “Slovo House: Unfinished Novel,” a feature film about the artists’ residency that was one of the most-watched Ukrainian movies this year.
[…] Some 30 Slovo House writers were executed, and a few others sent to penal colonies. Their work was banned and disappeared from public view, replaced by Kremlin-approved Russian-language books and plays.”
Thanks to the film, figures like futurist Mykhail Semenko and Mykola Khvylovy—central to Slovo House and a leader of the “Executed Renaissance” generation—have appeared in the American media for possibly the first time. After speaking with the filmmakers and audiences, an American journalist reached a sobering conclusion: Ukraine’s defeat in the war with Russia could lead to a repeat of history and another attempt to erase Ukrainian culture.
Mykola Khvylovy with his wife and daughter. Source: The New York Times
The success and impact of the film, as well as its box office performance, would have been hard to imagine in 2012 when Taras Tomenko first proposed the idea of creating a movie about repressed artists. “At that time, Ukrainian culture wasn’t even on the radar,” the director told The New York Times.
Funding only became available in December 2017, when Ukraine’s State Film Agency allocated 30 million hryvnias (approximately €909,000 at the time) for the production. The sum was clearly insufficient for such an ambitious project, but luckily, additional support came from benefactors. The International Charitable Fund “Solidarity” of Oleksandr Petrovskyi provided the remaining funds necessary to complete the film.
Taras Tomenko, the director of Slovo House: Unfinished Novel, has publicly stated multiple times that his film would not have reached audiences without the support of the Petrovskiy family. Oleksandr Petrovskiy, the president of the “Solidarity” Fund, is a well-known Ukrainian philanthropist who actively contributes to humanitarian projects. In 2021, his foundation participated in the reconstruction of the memorial hall at the National Holodomor-Genocide Museum in Kyiv.
Scenes depicting the Holodomor—the man-made famine orchestrated by Stalin’s regime to destroy the Ukrainian nation—are also present in Slovo House. For Oleksandr Petrovskiy, this story is deeply personal, as members of his own family, originally from the village of Bodakva in Poltava, were among the genocide’s victims.
At the Kyiv premiere of Slovo House: Unfinished Novel, Vyacheslav Dovzhenko (left), who played Mykola Khvylovy, alongside Oksana Petrovska (middle), a Merited Artist of Ukraine, and Taras Tomenko (right).
The film’s supporters and partners included Anzhelika Petrovska (left), Oleksandra Petrovksa (right), as well as producer Yana Ivanilova (middle).
In 2019, the Solidarity Fund co-financed Atlantis, a feature film by director Valentyn Vasyanovych about the war in Donbas. The movie became a landmark achievement for contemporary Ukrainian cinema, earning Ukraine the top prize at the Venice International Film Festival.
Atlantis served as a stark warning ahead of Russia’s full-scale invasion, exposing societal challenges that Ukraine would face just a few years later. Set in a near future, its narrative aligns thematically with Ideal Friend, a sci-fi short film directed by Serhii Aloshechkin, which held its pre-premiere screening in Warsaw in October 2024.
The Perfect Friend, also supported by the Petrovskiy family, addresses the rapid proliferation of artificial intelligence and the risks it poses. Its release coincided with Hollywood’s historic strike against the uncontrolled use of AI, a pivotal event for the global film industry this year.
Poster for the film The Perfect Friend (2024, directed by Serhii Aloshechkin)
The success of Ukrainian film projects proves that Ukraine can and must promote its culture and history abroad. Cinema, as a medium, has the power to introduce global audiences to Ukrainian identity. The Petrovskiy family’s initiatives exemplify how, even during war, Ukraine can command a prominent platform in U.S. media to counter Russian propaganda portraying Ukrainian culture as secondary to Russia’s.
In a world where culture is a tool in the battle for hearts and minds, Ukrainian cinema demonstrates that art is also a weapon—capable of changing perceptions of nations and preserving historical memory.