Orange Revolution

At the start, the election seems a foregone conclusion. Even though the opposition presidential candidate, Viktor Yushchenko, holds a commanding lead in opinion polls, Ukraine's post-Soviet regime has an iron grip on the police, the military, the media, and the electoral machinery. No one expects the election to be fair. Six weeks before the November 2004 vote, Yushchenko is poisoned. He barely survives, campaigning in pain, his face severely scarred by the toxin.

With tensions mounting, Ukrainians head to the polls to make their choice, already convinced that their votes won't be counted. When the blatant electoral fraud becomes clear, the people of Ukraine arise into the nonviolent Orange Revolution. They converge on the capital city Kiev, by the hundreds of thousands, building tent camps, occupying the city center, paralyzing the government by massing in the snow. “Tak!” their orange flags read - for “Yes!” to Yushchenko. Accompanied by rock musicians, their protests escalate. When troops are ordered to break up the protests with live ammunition, Ukraine's secret intelligence officers intervene, averting a massacre. In dramatic televised Supreme Court proceedings, the fraud is proven beyond doubt, and the justices call for new elections. In January 2005, the people of Ukraine pour into the streets again, this time to celebrate the inauguration of President Yushchenko.

Orange Revolution is the story of a people united, not by one leader or one party, but by one idea: a better future, in a country of their own. Length: 92 minutes

Orange Revolution premiered April 1, 2007 at the Chicago International Documentary Film Festival where it won the Chicago Doc President's Award. Other Festival Screenings: Hot Docs, San Francisco, Seattle, Milwaukee, Hot Springs, United Nations Association - Stanford University, AFI, Anchorage, Melbourne Human Rights, Ukraine's International Rights Protection Festival, DOCNZ of New Zealand, and the 7islands International Film Festival in Mumbia, India.

"[A] timely and fascinating look at grassroots democracy in action."
- Chicago Reader

"The broad scope of the film and the brilliant way it is shot and put together makes of it almost a thriller where truth is stranger-- and more exciting -- than fiction."
- Filmfestivals.com

"It feels like a repeat of the sordid U.S. election scandals, where voters were barred from doing their democratic duty and blame was placed on ballots and the process. But during the 2004 elections in the Ukraine...they refused to accept the lies...a fascinating look at how true leveling power comes with unifying under an umbrella of a belief."
- Seattle Post-Intelligencer

• 2007 President's Award, Chicago International Documentary Film Festival
• 2007 Bronze Plaque, Columbus International Film Festival

Available on DVD in NTSC and PAL in Arabic, English, Farsi, Spanish, Ukrainian and Vietnamese.

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