Freedom Had a Price Now On DVD

TORONTO–The award-winning do-cumentary Freedom Had A Price, depicting the internment of Ukrainians in Canada between l914 and l920, has been released on DVD by the National Film Board of Canada.

Produced and directed by filmmaker Yurij Luhovy, the one-hour film documents the period in Canadian history when over 5,000 Ukrainians in Canada were imprisoned as “enemy aliens” in 24 internment camps across the country. Filmed on former locations of internment sites across Canada, the documentary shows the remains of original internment structures and relics discovered by the film crew. By means of archival footage, vintage photographs and the compelling testimony of survivors and prominent Canadian historians, the film captures a moving, human story that is finally gaining public attention.

Yurij Luhovy first began researching the internment of Ukrainians in Canada in the early 1970s when interest in this aspect of Ukrainian-Canadian history was just beginning. He was the first person to find and film many of the original internment sites. In the filmmaking process, he found original internment photos of the Spirit Lake internment site in Quebec which he donated to the National Archives of Canada.  His documentary also provided impetus for the internment exhibit produced by the Ukrainian Canadian Research and Documentation Centre in Toronto and provided an important resource for the illustrated book, Silver Threads, by writer Marsha Skrypuch.

Initially, Luhovy found it difficult to get financial support for the making of Freedom Had A Price. Wanting to interview the last internment survivors before they passed away, Luhovy financed the film almost entirely himself at the start. Later, he received supporting grants from The Ukrainian Canadian Foundation of Taras Shevchenko, the Ukrainian Canadian Research and Documentation Centre and completion funds from The National Film Board of Canada. Don Haig, executive producer of NFB’s Studio B, made every effort to support the internment documentary in the final stages. Having grown up with Ukrainians in Western Canada, he was  very informed and sensitive to their story of settling Canada.

 Freedom Had A Price continues to be shown across Canada and is recommended for use in schools across the country as a teaching resource on the subject.

It has had excellent reviews in various Canadian newspapers receiving such comments as “…extraordinary documentary” by Jim Bowden, in The Toronto Star, “a powerful documentary on Ukrainian internment” by Alan Kellog in The Edmonton Journal, “…chilling portrait of national security gone wrong,” by Kennedy Gordon in The Sudbury Star, and “.. significant impact in raising awareness about the internment camps” by John Gregorovich in the University of Toronto Varsity.

The French and Ukrainian-language versions of the documentary are still in the completion stage awaiting funds.

Yurij Luhovy, who is a member of the Canadian Film and Television Academy, is presently working on two new documentaries dealing with 20th century history and based on first-hand survivors stories that have been almost forgotten and never yet filmed.

Freedom Had A Price, is available on VHS or DVD formats by writing to La Maison de Montage Luhovy Inc, 2330 Beaconsfield Avenue, Montreal, Quebec, H4A 2G8, contacting mmlinc@hotmail.com or calling  (514) 481-5871.