Colour Me Free Stands for Freedom in Belarus

By John Pidkowich with media releases

On September 16, the community and media gathered at the National Film Board in Toronto and had the opportunity to view the screening of the documentary Colour Me Free – the Fight for Freedom in the Last Dictatorship in Europe. Directed by first-time director Areta (Komarnicky) Lloyd and produced by Toronto-based Oyster Media, Inc., Colour Me Free is a “compelling lyrical portrait” of the struggle for democracy in Belarus in the aftermath of the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election; a remarkable “revolution of spirit” in a dispirited nation. The screening event opened with Paritosh Mehta of OMNI Rogers Media Television introducing the audience to OMNI’s Independent Producers Initiative, to the film and its director/producer.

Colour Me Free tracks the events leading up to the Orange Revolution in Ukraine – a series of protests and acts of civil disobedience prompted by the massive corruption, voter intimidation and electoral fraud – that shocked the world and especially echoed throughout the traditional power centre of Eastern Europe: Russia.

The documentary takes the viewer to the Orange Revolution’s focal point in Kyiv’s Independence Square (Maydan) and then crosses the border to the north to Russia and Belarus, where the tremendous hope behind the democracy movement further inspires democracy activists preparing to topple Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko.

Colour Me Free whisks the viewer to the stage set in Belarus as the next great test to transform Eastern Europe after Ukraine’s dramatic Orange Revolution. The documentary penetrates Belarus’ democratic movement, whose clever acts of courage stir fear and longing in a tyrannized people. The lines are drawn for a pitched battle when undaunted citizens face the state in their quest for freedom against dictatorial rule, freedom of the press and human rights abuses, and the valour of the human spirit.

Notable contributors to the film are Canadian Senator Jerry S. Grafstein, Ukrainian Canadian Member of Parliament Borys Wrzesnewskyj and Ukraine specialist Taras Kuzio, the latter two of which were present in the audience for the screening. Colour Me Free’s cinematographer is Dominika Dittwald and Mark Stokes is the picture editor. Areta Lloyd entertained questions in a Q and A session after the screening and was quite frank about her fears carrying out her journalism work when in Belarus and her proactive approach and strategic actions to avoid being denied entry in the country and potential detention once arrived.

Among the NFB Theatre’s capacity crowd, were members of the Ukrainian Canadian and Belarusian Canadian communities  including Ivonka Survilla, President of the Belarusian People’s Republic (BNR Government in Exile) and Dmitry Elyashevich, Chairman of the Belarusian Association of Canada.

Areta (Komarnicky) Lloyd is a journalist and documentary filmmaker based in Toronto and also has experience as an on-air television reporter and producer. The 60-minute documentary Colour Me Free is her first feature-length film. In 2004, she realized that the Orange Revolution was part of a wave of human longing in Eastern Europe and other areas of the former Soviet Union. Lloyd is of Ukrainian Canadian heritage and interested in the politics of Eastern Europe. She wrote a political science thesis about the break-up of the Soviet Union and holds a Master of Arts in Journalism. She has worked with organizations such as CIDA, Committee to Protect Journalists and Human Rights Watch, documenting and publicizing abuses of press freedom and human rights.

Colour Me Free was exclusively funded through OMNI.2 Rogers Media Television’s Independent Producers Initiative, a $32.5 million fund for independent productions of ethnic, third-language documentary and drama programmes. The programmes become part of the OMNI Television Documentary Special Series. The initiative’s fund to date has supported over 200 new documentary programmes.

 Colour Me Free was produced in English and scheduled to air on OMNI.1, Saturday, November 24 at 9 pm EST. The film’s Canadian documentary premiere, in its Ukrainian language version, airs on Saturday, October 6 at 10 pm EDT on OMNI.1 and the Russian language version airs the following week on Saturday, October 13 also on OMNI.1 at 10 pm EDT. The film was chosen as an official selection for the 2007 Montreal World Film Festival and the Bergen International Film Festival in Norway.