1927. Artists are settled into one building. They are allowed to choose the finest apartments. All the amenities are provided: telephones, heating, and even a solarium on the roof. They are being listened to, but they don’t know it. Eventually, of the 66 apartments, only 16 remain inhabited. The other residents are arrested, executed, or exiled to camps.

Sounds like the plot of a gripping psychological thriller, doesn’t it? The only difference is that this really happened – in Kharkiv.

In the 1920s, the city became a hub of Ukrainian culture, attracting the most talented artists from across the country. And not just artists. Kharkiv wasn’t prepared for such an influx, leaving many newcomers asking: where will we live?

Ostap Vyshnia, one of the local writers, proposed building a house for writers and even petitioned Stalin for funding. Unexpectedly, he succeeded. The building was designed in the shape of the letter “C” for Slovo (Word; Cyrilic "C" sounds the same way as "S"). Soon, it became home to luminaries like Les Kurbas, Mykola Khvyloviy, Pavlo Tychyna, Volodymyr Sosiura, Mike Johansen, Ostap Vyshnia himself, and others.

Within a few years, Mykola Khvylovy, a former communist, grew disillusioned with the regime and took his own life in his apartment. Eleven other residents of the building were executed in Sandarmokh in 1937. In March 2022, this building was damaged by a russian shell.

The feature film “Slovo” House. Unfinished Novel" tells the story of Ukrainian artists who lived in this building – how they lived, wrote, and formed friendships. The film is shot in black and white to better capture the spirit of the time. Despite the seemingly ideal conditions for creativity, the artists lived under strict constraints, and those who dared to step beyond them faced punishment. Interestingly, the film contains a single color scene. Punishment, however, didn’t always mean camps or death; sometimes, it meant coercion to collaborate with evil forces, as happened with Pavlo Tychyna.

Join us for a screening of “Slovo” House. Unfinished Novel in Halifax.

 📅 When: February 1 at 5:00 PM (doors open at 4:40 PM)

 📍 Where: Bus Stop Theatre Co-op

     2203 Gottingen St., Halifax

 💵 Price: 20 CAD (Buy on Eventbrite)