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30 “НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ”, ГРУДЕНЬ 2010 UNWLA BRANCH 98 HOSTS EVENING WITH AUTHOR – FILMMAKER IRENE ZABYTKO by Irene Krawczuk Filmmaker Irene Zabytko with members of Branch 98 and guests . UNWLA Branch 98 of Holmdel/Mid dle - town, N ew Jersey, and the Monmouth County Library Headquarters co - sponsored an evening with author and filmmaker, Irene Zabytko, on October 6, 2010. The branch invited Ms. Zabytko to present her latest project, the film documentary, Life in the Dead Zone which is based upon her debut novel, The Sky Unwashed, published in 2000 . The film focuses on the lives of a handful of elderly women who, despite official prohibition, choose to return to their homes in the highly irradiated and contami - nated exclusion (dead) zone near Chor nobyl, site of the w orld’s worst nuclear accident ( 1986 ) . Ms. Zabytko set the tone of her presentation by reading the introduction of her novel, The Sky Unwashed and then continued with other excerpts. Her novel is a fictionalized story of a family’s orde al as a result of the Chornobyl disaster; one of the central characters is the family matriarch who decides to return to her village. The film, on the other hand, presents the real women (babusi) who defied a government edict and returned to the village of Opachychi. A trailer for the documentary, produced in 2008 and titled Epiphany at Chornobyl, was also presented by the filmmaker and provided a hint of the film to come. The audience watched in silent awe, viewing the stark landscape images of present - day Chornobyl and listening to the interview segments featuring the brave women of the village of Opachychi — once home to more than 500 families and now reduced to 13 villagers living in an area deemed uninhabitable due to radiation. Following the trailer, Ms . Zabytko took questions from the audience, some of which were about the impact on the health of Ukrainians who were alive when Chornobyl’s nuclear reactor exploded and were still living, albeit outside the exclusion zone. She explained that the USSR had c laimed a death toll of 31, noting that 25,000 is a more realistic number, and that the Ukrainian Health Ministry estimated that Chornobyl - related health problems affected over 2.4 million Ukrainians. The radioactive cloud from Ch o rnobyl extended to Belarus , Scandinavia, and as far as Western Europe. Yet, to date, a veil of silence about what occurred continues to be the official policy. While fundraising for the project is ongoing, it was through a $25,000 grant from the UNWLA Mary V. Beck Chornobyl Fund t hat Ms. Zabytko and co - director Peter Mychalcewycz, were able to hire a professional film crew and purchase some hi - tech equipment. There is now a crew of six who will return to Ukraine in the Spring of 2011 for comple - tion of the film. They anticipate a 2 to 3 week work schedule with a budget of $20,000. For additional information and updates about project, visit the film website at www.lifeinthedeadzone.com . Видання C оюзу Українок A мерики - перевидано в електронному форматі в 2012 році . A рхів C У A - Ню Йорк , Н . Й . C Ш A.
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