A film by playwright Tony Leliw and filmmaker Baljinder Singh Panesar to create a fictional short around the legend of Ukraine’s Gold.
Heading back to the time of Peter the Great, it is said that one Pavlo Polubotok deposited a large quantity of gold in the Bank of England, to be retrieved once Ukraine was free.
The film is a fable to inspire the war-torn country. Although it is fiction, legends can bring hope and reflection, and although this story is a simple one, it does raise a smile.
Mykola (David Freisener) and Stepan (Ruslan Barenboym).are London-based builders, aware of the story of the gold but just at the Bank of England to fix a hole in the wall.
The film imagines a series of encounters and situations, including a meeting between Ukraine’s first president Leonid Kravchuk and then-UK prime minister John Major to try and trace the gold.
So far, the case remains open, and there have been no sightings of even one coin. What, Leliw suggests, would happen if the gold was found now, when it is most needed by its people?
This is bare-bones cinema, but I liked a few aspects of it. When one of the builders receives an unexpected phone call, it is fun to watch his reaction. And the music is great.
Above all, Ukraine’s Gold recognises this is a country worth saving with a people who matter. Everyone involved gave their time for free, and the fight goes on.
Ukraine’s Gold is now available online at https://youtu.be/pQKlXXtcfU8.