NEW YORK, NY.- Director/editor Andrea Odezynska will debut her new feature-length environmental documentary, Return Sasyk to the Sea (2022), which spotlights the destructive legacy Ukraine inherited as a former member of the Soviet Union. Screenings will take place at The Ukrainian Museum 7 p.m. on Friday, June 10 and Saturday, June 11, 2022. Tickets are $25 at Eventbrite; proceeds to benefit Razom for Ukraine, a 501(c)(3) organization sending humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

The film tells the story of bizarre Soviet irrigation projects in Southern Ukraine that created a slow eco-disaster, which continues today. Construction of the irrigation project began in 1972. The goal was to boost agriculture in Southwestern Ukraine by rerouting Ukraine’s major rivers and converting all salt-water estuaries into freshwater reservoirs. Sasyk Estuary was the first in line to be converted to a freshwater reservoir.

Today, Sasyk Estuary, by the Black Sea, is ground zero for a battle between eco activists vs. poachers, bureaucrats and corrupt officials. According to the filmmaker, "In light of the latest brutal invasion of Ukraine, the story of Sasyk Estuary is a metaphor for the history of Ukraine itself.

After Friday's screening, Odezynska will be joined by Marci Shore, Associate Professor of History at Yale University, for a discussion of the film. Prof. Shore is the award-winning author of Caviar and Ashes and The Taste of Ashes. She presented her book The Ukrainian Night: An Intimate History of Revolution at The Ukrainian Museum in 2018.

RETURN SASYK TO THE SEA
Duration: 60 minutes
Ukraine/United States
English subtitles

Tickets:
Friday, June 10, 7 p.m.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/benefit-for-ukraine-film-return-sasyk-to-the-sea-tickets-334801860377

Saturday, June 11, 7 p.m.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/benefit-for-ukraine-film-return-sasyk-to-the-sea-tickets-334947084747