Survey of Published Films and Videos
on the Doukhobors

1. Ternistyi put’ / Thorny Road. 1949. Russian. 56 minutes
2. Ombudsman. 1977.
3. In Search of Utopia: The Doukhobors. 1978. English. 63 minutes.
4. Doukhobors: The Living Book and Peaceful Life. 1978. Part One and Part Two. English. Each 28 minutes.
5. Russkie Dukhobortsy Kanady [Russian Doukhobors in Canada]. 1986. Russian. 8 minutes.
6. The Doukhobors of Saskatchewan. 1987. English. 22 minutes.
7. 1987 Dukhobortsy [The Doukhobors 1987]. 1988. Approx. 3 hours.
8. The Last Hurrah with sub-title ‘The Man and his Music’. 1990. English. 28 minutes.
9. Vstrecha s Dukhobortsami Kanadu [Meeting with Canadian Doukhobors]. 1991. Russian. 68 minutes.
10. Borscht. 1993. English. 10 minutes.
11. Write it on the Heart / Napishite vo Serdstakh. 1995. English. 23 minutes.
12. Voice Within. 1995. 2 hours & 46 minutes. English.
13. Centennial Doukhobor Celebrations: Burning of Arms 1995. 1995. English and Russian. 3 hours and 3 minutes.
14. Pulling Together—Community Doukhobor Elders. 1995. English. 29 minutes.
15. Soul Communion. 1998. English. 52 minutes.
16. Centennial Doukhobor Celebrations: Doukhobors – 100 Years in Canada. 1999. English and Russian. 1 hour and 39 minutes.
17. Wrestling with the Spirit: A Doukhobor Story. 2000. 23 minutes.
18. Through Her Eyes: Daughters of Freedom. 2001. 53 minutes. English.
19. My Doukhobor Cousins. 2002. 71 minutes. English.
20. The Spirit Wrestlers. 2002. 94 minutes.English. Captioned.
21. Anna Markova: Forgiveness in Exile. 2005. English. 25 minutes
22. Dukhobory: Poteriannyi Krai. (Doukhobors. The Lost Land/Paradise). 2005. Russian. English subtitles available. Two versions: 35 minutes and 26 minutes. Reissued on DVD as The Lost Land: The Red Book of Humanity.
    
23. Tolstoy and the Doukhobors. 2005. Russian and English versions on DVD video. 30 minutes.
24. Gorelovka. (research material for documentary project) 2006. Russian with English subtitles. Video on YouTube.com. 7 minutes.
    
25. Russian Religious Folklore. 2008. 8-segment video on the Internet of a lecture by Dr. S.E. Nikitina, Institute of Linguistics, Russian Academy of Science. Russian. 26:21 minutes total for 8 segments.
26. A Discovery: The Psalmist Project. A Tribute to BC Doukhobors 1908-2008. 2009. DVD, 119 minutes.
    
27. Come Home to History! A Tour of the Doukhobor Dugout House, Blaine Lake, Saskatchewan. 2009. English. Colour DVD. 40 minutes.
28. Gorelovka - Episodes from the life of a disappearing community 2010, 48 minute documentary proposed in #24 above. Russian with English subtitles.

Not reviewed.
Videos in Reference to Doukhobors, by Larry Ewashen, Larry's Desk

• Voices for Peace: 1995 International Tour (1.5 hours)
• Doukhobor Heritage Tour 2015 (time 2 hours, 16 min) -- by Alex and Brian Ewashen. — 25 day tour of Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Russia, June-July 2015. Text.
• Spirit-Wrestlers: Doukhobors. 3 part documentary by Vedat Akcayoz, Kars Turkey. Part 1 (14 min.), Part 2 (14 mion), Part 3 (12.5 min)
  

Introduction

This is a survey and collection of short reviews of published films and videos on the Doukhobors which are published and available to the public for purchase, on the Internet (Larry's Desk, or at libraries. Many more other films and videos exist in private collections or which are not widely available or archived.

Format of survey: Title. Date of origin. Language of narration. Length. Colour format. Format type (VHS, film, DVD). Sub-titles. Producer and narrator. Camera person. Availability. Contents in brief (including reviews).

Acknowledgements: Sincere acknowledgement is hereby given to Richard Sokoloski, ‘Images of the Doukhobors: a record of film sources’ in Canadian Ethnic Studies, vol. XXVII, no. 3, l995, pp. 281-288. Dr. Sokoloski is Professor of Polish and Russian literature, Department of Modern Languages and Literatures, University of Ottawa. In 1995 he examined eleven sources: six films in English, four in Russian, and one in both languages. All were documentary in conception, and one consisted of interviews (as yet unedited). He concluded his review with the following paragraph:

‘….All of the films described above are as much a testimony to the endurance of the Doukhobors in Canada as they are a process of renewal with which all movements periodically must contend. To the extent that history seems to have come full circle and has again begun to feed upon itself in the younger generation is likely a good sign for the Doukhobors. Ultimately, the varied images of the Doukhobors that emerge from these films reveal, in some measure, a timeless sense of introspection and an affinity for oral dialogue that implicitly binds the movement to both past and present, word and deed, thought and belief. Anyone interested in this fascinating aspect of Canadian-Russian social and religious history is well-advised to view these films’ (Sokoloski, 1995: 287).

Since that initial scholarly introduction to films on Doukhobor in 1995, many more have been added to English-and Russian-language video and cinematographic sources that may help foster understanding and future research on the Doukhobors. Readers are invited to submit additions and suggestions to this study. This is a work in progress. Contact Koozma.

Film Reviews

Ternistyi put’ / Thorny Road. 1949. Russian. 56 minutes. Colour. 16 mm and VHS. The following credits appear on the film: Commentary: Walter Kazakoff; Director: H. Melmed, Sun Photo Co., Winnipeg; Produced by: Angelo Movie Makers, Winnipeg. The film was produced and sponsored by The Doukhobor Society of North Eastern Saskatchewan in 1949 to commemorate fifty years of Doukhobor settlement on Canadian soil. It appears to have been the first Canadian film to deal with the subject. Produced at the somewhat extravagant cost (for a film of this nature) of $10,000, it remains for its age a remarkable work. Available from: Canadian Museum of Civilization, Gatineau, Quebec.

‘Depicting Doukhobor settlements near Kamsack, Saskatchewan, the film is a simply made effort by non-professional technicians (one would assume) who strove to combine a sense of cultural history with the ethos of the Doukhobor life-style and beliefs. In terms of content, re-enactments with commentary depicting the laying down of arms and relocation in Canada are followed by several vignettes revealing the lot of the early pioneers engaged in practical occupations and various manners and mores (field labour, pulling wagons, gathering “Seneca” grass, craft-making, weaving, shoe construction, meals, washing, religious/social customs, rituals). The final third of the film comprises archival footage drawn from actual jubilee celebrations at Kamsack, including speeches (in English) by a visiting American representative of the Quakers, a Mr.Schaefer; the mayor of Kamsack, Mr. Candle; and a member of the Saskatchewan legislature, Mr. Banks.

Ombudsman. 1977. 16 mm. Colour. Produced by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

The CBC program includes an interview with Larry A. Ewashen on the death of Peter V. Verigin and the issue of freedom of information.  See LIST

In Search of Utopia: The Doukhobors. 1978. English. 63 minutes. Black-and-white. 16 mm.reel-to-reel and VHS. This historical documentary was directed by Larry A. Ewashen with research by Koozma J. Tarasoff. Cameraman: Ray Gallon. Assistant: Ken Innes.

Available from Larry Ewashen, and posted on YouTube in 2016 by Larry Ewashen. 

From brochure release: ‘This film has drawn on the original material – the Doukhobors themselves, and explores the history of the Doukhobors in Canada through their own words, their own experiences, their own photographs and their own settlements. It traces the arrival of the Doukhobors through original documents prior to and including the 1890s, after which it concentrates on the interviews and narrations of the Doukhobors themselves, continuing their history to the present time. The film is an invaluable collection and documentation of their entire history in Canada. It is valuable not only as a documentation of a struggling people whose history parallels the settling of Canada’s West but also as a social movement.’

‘….Ewashen and Tarasoff have produced a work of Canadian historiography that attempts through copious use of documentation (newspaper articles, archival and personal photographs, film footage, personal interviews, and quotations) to present a fair depiction of the Doukhobor presence in this land. In its content, the film not only furnishes a thorough background, but also openly explores a number of controversial aspects of Canadian Doukhobor history, including immigration and settlement policies, the more zealous manifestations of …beliefs, the mysterious death of P. V. Verigin in 1924 (still under investigation after seventy years), the internment camps of the Second World War, and the infamous “New Denver” incident in the fifties. Technically, the film exhibits a high degree of professionalism, employing documentary techniques in an effective manner. Made possible by grants from the offices of the Canadian Multicultural Programs, Secretary of State, and the Ontario Arts Council; In Search of Utopia uses primary and secondary materials from a number of sources; items and institutions consulted include The Public Archives of Canada, The National Film Board of Canada, The Provincial Museum of Alberta, The Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library of the University of Toronto (The James Mavor Papers), The Verigin Museum, and The Glenbow Alberta Institute, as well as various Canadian newspapers and sources of personal correspondence’(Sokoloski, 1995: 282-283).

Here is another review of In Search of Utopia by anthropologist F. Mark Mealing, ‘Film Review’ in Canadian Ethnic Studies, XII, 1, 1980: 113-114:

‘There are now four prime sources of visual material dealing with Doukhobors in Canada: the Tarasoff Photo Collection in the B.C. Provincial Archives; Tarasoff’s Pictorial History of the Doukhobors (Saskatoon, Western Producer Press, 1969); the CBC/NFB two-part 16 mm film The Doukhobors: The Living Book/Toil and Peaceful Life (each 27 min., 1976); and now Larry Ewashen’s In Search of Utopia. The Photo Collection is not portable, and the Pictorial History is out-of-print; but In Search of Utopia draws upon and adds to these sources and renders them both available and portable.

‘The film is in essence an extended historical essay conveyed for the most part by standard still animation, with some historic and recent live film footage. The narrated sound discussion draws upon historical documents, sound-over of Doukhobor traditional song, and interview segments or transcription from individual informants. It is clear that Ewashen and Tarasoff see eye-to-eye on the use and evaluation of a wide range of photographic materials, repeating the excellent breadth of Tarasoff’s Pictorial History by informed and dramatic examination of a set of images that ranges from antique set-pieces of almost ritual formality through media excerpts and dossier materials to informal snapshots of family events. The resulting depth of imagery acquaints the viewer with a diverse and profound presentation of the Doukhobor presence in Canada.

‘Doukhobors in Canada belong to three major sub sects. The viewpoint of the film is largely that of the Independent Doukhobors, the group that has developed the widest interface with the majority culture. Community Doukhobors and the conservative radical Svobodniki (Sons of Freedom) might disagree with some of the points offered by the film, but would, I believe, consider such issues as debatable rather than illegitimate. In the 1976 CBC/NFB film, the narrator George Woodcock took the view that Doukhobor culture was rapidly eroding: In Search of Utopia tends to see most Doukhobors as victims (a view not without strong historical justification), and the Independents as the group presently most adapted for cultural survival. The realities are not quite so cut-and-dried; but it is ample to the credit of the Ewashen film that, though a certain view is presented, the evidence is not edited to fit, and the film stimulates review and questioning of the issues it raises.

Doukhobors: The Living Book and Peaceful Life. 1978. Part One and Part Two. English. Each 28 minutes. Colour. Brief history written by George Woodcock. The following credits appear on the film: Producer Gordon Babineau; Camera: John Seale, Dick Bellamy; Sound Recording: Norman Rosen; Film Editor: John Fuller; CBC Vancouver. Available from The National Archives of Canada, Audio-visual Collection, Ottawa, Ontario.

Posted on YouTube in 2016, Part 1, Part 2, by Larry Ewashen.

‘The two-part CBC effort... another excellent scholarly work which also places its theme in broad historical perspective, is nonetheless primarily a study of Doukhobors as a religious-social phenomenon per se. With narration written and spoken by George Woodcock, who has published prolifically on the subject, part one, The Living Book, provides detailed material on fundamental aspects of Doukhobor existence: the basis of their philosophy and beliefs, the habitual and ritualistic features of their religion, their institutional and administrative structures, and their evolution into various factions. Formally, the film moves repeatedly between Canada and Russia, effectively telescoping large segments of social and political history, in order to highlight a number of key points relating to the philosophy of Doukhoborism. It explores the basis of crucial divergences with traditional aspects of Orthodoxy, including the rejection of sacred icons, Holy Writ, the priesthood, and the liturgy, while also emphasizing such specific Doukhobor manifestations as ritualized bowing and kissing, the molenie or prayer-meeting, the sobranie or secular council, the organization and function of the Doukhobor prayer-house, and social conventions such as funerals.

‘Toil and Peaceful Life, a phrase that epitomizes the Doukhobor lot, traces the evolution of the ideal against past and present realities of Canadian life. The first half of the film outlines the contrasting aspects of progress and reaction as collective beliefs were confronted with the competitive material world of the Canadian free market, or as Woodcock states, as “economic communism for religious ends was adapted to a complex industrial administration.” Much attention is devoted to the often misunderstood faction of the “Sons of Freedom” …whose provocative and activistic presence has often lent discredit to the movement as a whole. The latter portion of the film deals with contemporaneity and the ever-present issue of remaining true to past ideals. In one of the final segments, a Doukhobor youth choir singing “This land is your land, this land is my land” in both Russian and English symbolizes the tenacity of Canadian Doukhobors to preserve and defend “the living word” of their founding beliefs from the encroaching realities of their future. In many ways, The Living Book and Toil and Peaceful Life are logically built on the historical foundations of In Search of Utopia. Both parts judiciously incorporate archival material gleaned from a variety of sources, including the National Archives of Canada, and the British Columbia and Alberta Provincial Archives’ (Sokoloski, 1995: 283).  See LIST

Russkie Dukhobortsy Kanady [Russian Doukhobors in Canada]. 1986. Russian. 8 minutes. Colour. Produced by Alexei Melnikov (Ocherk Productions) for Soviet television, Channel 1.

‘The short piece, Russkie Dukhobortsy Kanady…was assembled by a Soviet journalist, Alexei Melnikov, during his six-year assignment in Canada in the heady days of the Gorbachev period, is at a best a cursory survey of the subject. It has historical importance in that it was the first (1986) formal sustained reportage on the subject of Canadian Doukhobors that Russian viewers had seen in recent times. This short film report was replayed several times on national Soviet television during the mid and late 1980s, Melnikov considers this to be one of the best assignments of his stay in Canada.  See LIST

The Doukhobors of Saskatchewan. 1987. English. 22 minutes. Colour. Credits: Director: June Morgan; Writer/Producer: Carol Blenkin; Editor: Terry Stoker; Cameras: Bob Armstrong, Bob Curtis, George Hupka, Brian Langdon, Gary Von Custer; Studio Camera: Ron Hanlin. Aired 30 January 1995 on station BBS (CFQC TV), Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

This film was structured for a half-hour television program and conceived for a larger, more popular, viewer ship. It provides a balanced account of the subject, free of stereotypical bias, of the origins, history and evolution of the Doukhobor movement.

1987 Dukhobortsy [The Doukhobors 1987]. 1988. Approx. 3 hours. Colour. Producer and Cameraman: Ilya Frez. Research by Prof. S.E. Nikitina, folklorist from the Institute of Russian Language, Moscow. Available at the Smithsonian Institute, Washington, DC.

‘A penultimate item, 1987 Dukhobortsy…unfortunately provided inaccessible for viewing by this author, hence can only be described rather sketchily on the basis of second-hand information. Produced independently by Ilya Frez, a young Russian film-maker (son of a slightly better known Soviet film-maker of the same name), the work was assembled after some twelve hours of shooting, much of which was done in 1987 with Russian Doukhobors from the area of Novgorod. Frez was accompanied in his research by Prof. S.E. Nikitina….The work is notable in that it apparently contains rare archival footage of the Doukhobors shot in Russia during the ‘twenties. Shortened eventually to approximately three hours in length and broadcast on Russian television, the film has not been distributed abroad, all attempts by the producer having been unsuccessful’ (Sokoloski, 1995: 286).   See LIST

The Last Hurrah with sub-title ‘The Man and his Music’. 1990. English. 28 minutes. Colour. Produced, directed and filmed by Larry A. Ewashen. Available from Larry E. Ewashen.

‘The Last Hurrah…is a warm biographical look at a noted figure within the Doukhobor community, Nick Kalmakoff, whose collections of Doukhobor choral adaptations of psalms and hymns, gathered and published over the course of six decades, constitute an invaluable contribution to Canadian musical ethnography. An affable individual with wise scholarly foresight, Kalmakoff and his lengthy responses to Ewashen’s questions constitute the main narrative thread of the film. Kalmakoff reveals the origins of his interest in sacral music; the philosophical, spiritual and ritualistic basis of the Doukhobors’ love of song; the inception of certain individual hymns; their subsequent development and popularity; his own criteria in compiling a collection or sbornik, and the characteristics of performance in general. Also included is a short segment with Jack McIntosh, Slavic bibliographer at the University of British Columbia library…and with Dr. Shirley Perry, who is presently engaged in the large-scale project of establishing a system of musical annotation for the complex modes of Doukhobor choral performance.

Vstrecha s Dukhobortsami Kanadu [Meeting with Canadian Doukhobors]. 1991. Russian. 68 minutes. Colour. The following credits appear on the film: Director: Vera Novikova; Photography: Victor Epstein; Camera: Yury Saranduk; Composer: Igor Yefremov; Sound: Vladyslav Torohov; Conductor: Sergei Skripka; Producer Ludmila Ivanova. Available from Canadian Museum of Civilization, Gatineau, Quebec.

‘…Meeting with Canadian Doukhobors like In Search of Utopia and The Living Book / Toil and Peaceful Life, is also a scholarly full-length account of the subject, though here an attempt has been made to provide more in-depth background on the native origins, evolution and vicissitudes of the Doukhobors in their original homeland. While intended obviously for the Russian viewer, the film provides an interesting and informative compliment to the two longer English-language works mentioned above. Made in the emerging post-glasnost period (1991), Meeting with Canadian Doukhobors is generally a balanced unbiased account of a subject which many Russians have only recently begun to reclaim and study with great interest.

‘The work touches on the beginnings of the Doukhobor movement in the eighteenth century, focusing on the philosophical sources of the fledging sect, the etymological (and ironical) origins of its name, and the general formulation of its beliefs. Incorporating archival materials and interviews, the camera takes the viewer to a number of important historical sites in Russia: Molochnye Vody [Milky Waters] near the Sea of Azov, an early area of settlement (1801); more recent places of settlement in this century within the Salsk Okrug, south-west of Rostov-on-the-Don; to the Doukhobor Museum, located in Georgia (Javahetia, or Dzhavakhetii); and to the restored home (Gorelovka) of an influential figure of the movement in nineteenth-century Russia, Lukeriia Vasilevna Kalmykova (c. 1886).

‘In its linear exposition, the film is circular: opening with broad shots of the Canadian landscape, introducing the general theme, moving them in time and space to Russia to retrace the historical origins of the movement, and eventually returning to reassume the initial Canadian impetus of the film, where the evolution of the movement on Canadian soil is outlined. In addition to providing an informative overview of the Doukhobor presence in the new world, this latter section of the film also comprises interesting comments, often solicited through interviews, regarding the thoughts and feelings of Doukhobors toward their ancestral homeland. Similarly, interviews with members of the Doukhobor newspaper Iskra [The Spark], as well as with John J. Verigin, honorary chairman of the Union of Spiritual Communities of Christ, underscore a somewhat more recent concern of the movement, namely, the desire to promote understanding both within and beyond Doukhobor circles by means of education and implementation of media resources. The camera similarly visits a number of historical sights of interest in Canada, including the Verigin Museum and the Verigin Memorial Cemetery’ (Sokoloski, 1995: 285).   See LIST

Borscht. 1993. English. 10 minutes. Colour. The following credits appear on the film: Director: Anna Kapell; Editing: Cheri Evans; Camera: Joanne Lyons; Music: Saskatoon, Blaine Lake and Langham Choirs; produced at Video Verite. Available from Anna Kapell, Box 866, Kingston, Ontario K7L 4X6.

Anna Kapell, a Kingston, Ontario artist, pays tribute to her Saskatchewan Doukhobor grandmother Ann Hoodekoff who works with her hands and displays her skills through cooking and embroidery. Kapell compresses 27 hours of video tape into 10 minutes and captures the immediacy, intimacy, detail and humanity of her Baba’s home life. The film relies on ‘hands-on’ illustration, as Hoodekoff performs her art while recounting, in quaint broken English, the events of her life as a Doukhobor.

The film is a personal and emotional venture for the artist because most of her contact with Doukhobor culture has been in her very early years when more Russian was spoken at her grandparents than and group singing. Apparently Kapell’s mother had a lot of negative feelings attached to life on the Saskatchewan farm that when she packed up at the early age of 14 to move into the city, she put everything to do with that life behind her. When she married Kapell’s father, she had to become a Catholic and the family was consequently raised in that faith.

When Kapell was researching Doukhobor materials, she was simultaneously reading Elaine Pagel’s writings on the Gnostic Gospels. She got excited when she discovered their basic philosophy seemed similar. Both groups were persecuted and the written word was dangerously incriminating to them. Men and women celebrated equally in speaking of the divine which resides within all people. The early Christians, Kapell noticed, revered Christ as a teacher who helped them recognize divinity within themselves. And the hierarchical structure of the church was rejected with disdain. Alana Kapell writes:

Write it on the Heart / Napishite vo Serdstakh. 1995. English. 23 minutes. Colour. The following credits appear on the film: Director: June Morgan; Writer/Producer: Catherine Perehudoff, June Morgan; Photography: Dan Semenoff; Narrator: Eva Petryshen. Produced in association with the Saskatchewan Communication Network. Available from: Catherine Perehudoff, Saskatoon, Sask.

‘….Write it on the Heart is an informative film whose title is inspired by a proverb from Hebrews (“I will put my laws into their minds, and write them in their hearts”; 8:10). Like the inspiration of its title, the work in many ways focuses on the oral, non-written tradition as an inherent defining factor in the Doukhobor philosophy. Striving to capture the essence of the movement, Write it on the Heart also incorporates abundant excerpts of choral singing, a time-honoured custom and art form of the Doukhobors. Drawing from a number of resources including the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic (Halifax) and The Archives of British Columbia, the film also devotes considerable time to depicting the actual resettlement procedure of the original Doukhobors to Canada, en emigration which constituted the largest number of settlers to arrive on North-American soil at one time. Conceived in a spirit of understanding and acceptance, both films [including The Doukhobors of Saskatchewan] deserve wider distribution (Sokoloski, 1995: 284).  See LIST

Voice Within. 1995. 2 hours & 46 minutes. English. Colour. VHS. Project Coordinators: Ernie Verigin and Leana Zwick. Co-Directors: Marjorie Malloff, Ernie Verigin and Leana Zwick. Choir Directors: Leana Zwick and Ernie Verigin. Kootenay Mens Choir and Spirit of Youth Choir. Cameras: Wallace Dergousoff, Andy Ozeroff, Steve Malloff, Bill Chiveldave, Walter Hoodikoff and Ed Chernoff. Video Production by the USCC Video Club. Produced by the USCC Youth Centennial Drama Committee. Videotaped live on stage at the Brilliant Cultural Centre, Castlegar, BC. Available from the USCC Video Club.

This production was the highlight of the 49^th Annual Youth Festival held at the Brilliant Cultural Centre, Castlegar, BC May 20, 1995. The Doukhobor youth produced this drama on stage in honour of their ancestors who burnt their guns on midnight June 28, 1895 and as part of the 100th year celebration of this noble act.

This stage production was divided into ten scenes with one intermission: I.Ekaterinoslav. II. & III.Milky Waters Region. IV.Doukhobors Move to Transcaucasian Region. V, VI, VII & VIII. Transcaucasus Region. IX. Transcaucasus; Military Perspective. X. The Burning of Guns. More than 40 local youth were cast in their roles and exhibited a tremendous dedication in the production of this play which had been in the making for over a year. The youth also provided singing, set design and stage construction as well as lighting, sound, costumes and make-up. A Program pamphlet was available.

Voice Within was a moving dramatization of Doukhobor history from 1790 to 1899. The play included the period when the ancestors rejected the Orthodox Church, staged the huge manifestation for peace during the rejection of military service in 1895, right up to the time of their exile to Canada in 1899.

Acappella singing in Russian was an integral part of the play, often serving along side of lighting effects as the stage changes. No curtain was used. Colourful costumes and props aided the authenticity of the play.

The audience of over 1000 people was asked a couple of times to stand up and give greetings to a married couple on stage. They were moved to tears on many occasions as they witnessed the separation of families and loved ones during a very painful period in their history. In spite of the beatings of the Russian dissidents – first by the Russian Orthodox Church and then by the Tsarist officials – the Doukhobors were not swayed from their beliefs, morals and ideals.

Centennial Doukhobor Celebrations: Burning of Arms 1995. 1995. English and Russian. 3 hours and 3 minutes. Colour. Produced by the National Doukhobor Heritage Village Inc. Videotaped by LRK Video Productions Ltd., Saskatoon, Sask. Because of rainy weather, the celebration was held on an open stage in the Kamsack Arena, Kamsack, Saskatchewan June 29, 1995.

The video opens with a close shot of Matvey Lebedev’s grave stone in the Nadezhda Cemetary north of Verigin, Sask. Lebedev was the hero who with 10 other Doukhobors on Easter Sunday April 1895 threw down their guns while training in the Elizavetpol reserve battalion, stating that war and Christianity are incompatible. The result was that the dissidents were sent to disciplinary battalion and exiled along with 60 other Doukhobor young men in active service who followed their example.

Then the camera focuses on Lebedev’s portrait on stage in Kamsack. In front, on the main floor, a traditional Doukhobor sobranie begins with men on one side and women on the other. Prayers are recited followed by congregational singing in Russian in acappella style. Co-chairman Alex Sherstobitoff speaks in English about the consequences of rejecting military service, including torture with 80 strikes on the backs of the dissidents. An elder descendant of Lebedev read a statement in English confirming the severity of the decision to fulfill the commandment ‘Thou shalt not kill’. Several descendants were presented to the sobranie, saying that three children are still alive, 9 of 11 grand children are alive as well as 17 great grandchildren.

Eli A. Popoff, writer from Grand Forks, BC, recited a psalm in Russian which paid a tribute to those Doukhobor pioneers who gave spirit to their movement by rejecting the church, icons, and wars. He ends by saying that today we realize that if we do not get rid of wars, wars will destroy us.

The sobranie ends with the singing of Spite Orli Boevye (Sleep on Ye Brave Eagles).

In the afternoon, guests were presented including the Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan J.E.N. Wiebe, Peter W. Kabatoff as Mayor of Verigin, Saskatchewan, and Bernie Collins and Ken Kravetz as Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province. Ed Tchorzewsky as Deputy Premier of Saskatchewan said that Doukhobors are respected for their unwavering commitment to peace. He declared the week as ‘Peace Week’ in Saskatchewan.

Andy Ozeroff brought greetings from the Union of Spiritual Communities of Christ (USCC), while Michael Verigin spoke on behalf of the United Doukhobors of Alberta. George Stushnoff spoke in English on behalf of the Doukhobor Cultural Society of Saskatchewan. Laura Savinkoff spoke in Russian and English as a member of the Doukhobor Centennial Committee. Personal greetings also came from the Baha'i faith, Project Ploughshares, Quakers and Mennonites, and the Regina Peace Council. Alex Wishlow brought greetings from the Canadian Doukhobor Society. Alexei M. Kinakin, head of the Council of Doukhobors in Russia spoke in Russia, as John J. Verigin, Jr. interpreted in English. Finally, Russian Doukhobor artist Volodia Gubanov spoke of his assignment in Canada during this Centennial year.

Pulling Together—Community Doukhobor Elders. Harvest of Age series. 1995. English. 29 minutes. Colour. Produced by Spindlekin Productions Inc. of North Vancouver, BC and Pastiche Production of Victoria, as a TV series. Broadcast on Knowledge Network and Vision TV. A co-venture of the producers and Health Canada’s Ventures in Independence program along with support from Canada Multiculturalism, Telefilm Canada, VanCity Community Foundation, Kootenay Savings Credit Union, Vision TV, Knowledge Network, and Saskatchewan Communications Network. Pulling Together – Community Doukhobor Elders launched the series on November 15, 1995.

Posted on YouTube in 2016.

Harvest of Age was billed as a TV first: a series about the universal experience of growing old through the eyes of elders in three Canadian cultures. This series of three half-hour shows depicts old age like it really is – with both rewards and its problems – as told by seniors themselves. Each episode offers intimate portraits of elders from the Italian, Native Indian and Doukhobor cultures.

The personal and emotional journeys of several Doukhobor elders from BC's Kootenay Valley was featured as one part of a series of films televised on TV. Florence Podovinikoff, 84, reflects on the loss of her husband and the joys of having her grandchildren nearby. Nick Denisoff, 65, shows how he carves traditional Doukhobor wooden ladles and passes the skill on to his grandson, Mischa. He points out that carving is therapeutic. Maria ‘Grannie’ Soukhorukov, 72, cites several humorous sketches. Peter Voykin, singer, shares his views about traditional a cappella singing and its importance to the preservation of culture. Elder Julia Ozeroff visits a senior citizens home in Castlegar, BC and talks to the Doukhobor elders there.

Soul Communion. 1998. English. 52 minutes. Colour. VHS. Produced by Sharon Ann McGowan of Blue Media Limited in association with Vision TV. Available from Blue Heron Media Ltd., 2979 East 3^rd Avenue, Vancouver, BC V5M 1H7.

Posted on YouTube in 2016 by Larry Ewashen.

A one-hour documentary, Soul Communion tells the powerful story of Doukhobors as seen through the eyes of contemporary Doukhobor artists and writers, whose personal histories and creative work are both dramatic and poignant. The artists and their work featured in the film are Polly Faminow and Jan Kabatoff. The writers are Eli A. Popoff, Kathryn Soleveoff Robbie and Vi Plotnikoff.

Koozma’s letter to Sharon McGowan, October 15, 1998:

‘….Your one-hour documentary was professionally done, excellently executed, and in good taste….Thank you for adding another important page to the Doukhobor story on the eve of their 100 years in Canada.

‘The interviews were well integrated with the many historic photos, good film footage of the past and current shots. You kept the viewer’s interest by editing out excess and unnecessary items and going on to the next item. Besides good images, the sound portion of your film was effectively done – as a cappella singing came in and out, often in the background, with periodic sounds of ships’ horn, train whistles, children playing, and birds singing. Your transitions were smooth and fitted well. Your years of work with the National Film Board and elsewhere showed….

‘Especially, I enjoyed your live historic footage of women plowing, of Cossacks charging, of the two-tiered singing in a sobranie, and the New Denver footage….

‘Your execution of the phenomena of zealotry / Sons of Freedom was the most problematic. In fact, much attention was focused on this theme, and there were generalizations that often were overdone (e.g. all Doukhobors were staunch vegetarians; all Doukhobors opposed registering their births, marriages, and deaths, etc.). Many newspaper headlines underlined the sensational actions of zealots (e.g. “Doukhobor fanatics”). However, you did make a good point that the zealots were the forefront of the effort to stave off assimilation. Also you avoided the pitfalls of many other productions which focused on the sensational actions of nudity and burnings. Also you stayed away from the sensitive issues of splits and leadership. However, when the smoke clears, what will the public remember? Do your generalizations reinforce the very things that Doukhobors have sought to distance themselves from over the years or do they actually provide understanding of what the real situation was? This is a question that I cannot answer at this time, but will await the reaction of the wider audience.

Centennial Doukhobor Celebrations: Doukhobors – 100 Years in Canada. 1999. English and Russian. 1 hour and 39 minutes. Colour. Produced by the National Doukhobor Heritage Village Inc. Videotaped by John Kalesnikoff and Shirley Swanton. Edited by Shirley Swanton. Sound by John Kalesnikoff. Titles by Shirley Swanton. Filmed in the curling rink at the Doukhobor Heritage Day Celebrations in Verigin, Saskatchewan, July 17, 1999. Available from John Kalesnikoff, Box 256, Meota, Saskatchewan SOM 1XO.

Wrestling with the Spirit: A Doukhobor Story.

From the VHS cover:

‘Dorothy Dickie’s A Doukhobor Story is a personal journey into the fascinating life experiences of her Russian great-grandfather. In April of 1899, Vanya and Loosha Perverseff came to Canada with 2,300 other Doukhobors, the third and final wave of Doukhobor immigrants to Canada. Simple, devout, mostly illiterate peasants, the Doukhobors were pacifists, persecuted by the Russian government for refusing to bear arms for Czar Nicholas II. The Perverseffs settled in Saskatchewan and started a new life as farmers with the assurance of freedom. The Doukhobors eventually experienced radical differences of opinion and fragmented into three groups. The Perverseffs chose progress and Vanya raised his children as literate, educated citizens, making a new life and certain future for generations.

‘Filmmaker Dorothy Dickie leads us through the mystery of early Canadian Doukhobor life with an evocative mix of first person reminiscences, archival footage and lovely scenic landscapes.

‘A Scattering of Seeds celebrates the grit and character of unsung immigrants – regular people – who staked their families and futures on a second chance in Canada. These are films that make the stranger immediately familiar and the beginnings of this country a shared experience.

‘At the root of each story is the instinct to contribute something, to mark the efforts of a life. Each episode draws on a rich archive of home movies, photographs, letters home, diaries and oral history.

Through Her Eyes: Daughters of Freedom. 2001. 53 minutes. English. Directed and written by: Christian Bruyere. Based on an original script by Beverley Straight. Produced by Daughters of Freedom Inc. A Women's Television Network Signature Original (renamed W Network). Editor: Stuart Dejong. Narrator: Nicole Oliver. Camera: Rudi Kovanic. Sound: Eric Harwood Davis. Archival Film Research: Beverley Straight. Original music composed by Graemie Coleman.

33:26 minutes posted on Archive.org in 2020.

This is a sympathetic story about Kathleen Shlakoff Makortoff and Helen Chernoff Freeman of the interior of British Columbia. Both were raised as Sons of Freedom children. Both were seized in 1956 by the RCMP because their parents refused to send them to school. Kathleen and Helen tell their story in New Denver Dormitory and how they were scarred for life.

The film effectively used much old film footage with contemporary interviews. Its backdrop for the title was flames burning homes. There was practically no attempt to distinguish regular Doukhobors from zealots. The effect is a stereotype of Doukhobors as fanatic cult – a false and unfair notion of a peaceful people.

The film ends with Kathleen and Helen meeting in Agassiz, BC with a psychologist Dr. Andrew Feldmar who devises a plan on how the 71 grads from New Denver can deal with their trauma. The plan is fourfold: 1. Construct a permanent marker at New Denver to show Canadians that this forceful education experiment took place in Canada. 2. Set up a research fund for youth. 3. Have the government set up a counseling rehabilitation program for the children. 4. Videotape their stories and place them in a Museum for access to the public.   See LIST

My Doukhobor Cousins. 2002. 71 minutes. English. Closed captioned. Colour VHS. Directed by Ole Gjerstad. Written by Janice Benthin, descendant of Sons of Freedom. Producer: Mark Zannis. Editor: Hannele Halm. Cinematographers: Andrei Khabad and Peter Krieger. Executive Producer: Sally Bochner. Available from National Film Board of Canada 1-800-267-7710 (Canada). 1-800-542-2164 (USA). Posted at Vimeo by film director Ole Gjerstad.  Posted on YouTube in 2012. 

See review in CM Magazine, University of Manitoba.

From the NFB brochure:

‘Growing up in the 1950s and ‘60s, Janice Benthin always felt her family was hiding something. When she vacationed with [Sons of Freedom] Doukhobor relatives in the BC Kootenays, the adults spoke Russian in hushed tones, people disappeared, and RCMP officers kept constant watch over the community to the disturbing media images of distraught Doukhobor men and women stripping bare and setting buildings ablaze. But as a child she was forbidden to ask questions.

‘My Doukhobor Cousins is Benthin’s quest for answers [about her Sons of Freedom heritage].

‘The film provides a rare, personal look inside this mysterious spiritual community of dedicated pacifists who came to Canada from Russia in 1899 to build a Christian Utopia. As Leo Tolstoy, a leader to the Doukhobor community saw it, this group which shunned material possessions and started the largest experiment in communal living – was composed of enlightened people centuries ahead of their time.

‘But soon after their arrival in Canada, the Doukhobor community fractured. The Sons of Freedom sect was the smallest, yеt the most visible to other Canadians as they used arson and nudity to demonstrate their devotion. All Doukhobors got swept up in the repressions that followed.

‘The film follows Benthin and her cousins Lance and Marilyn as they attempt to understand the troubled history of these uncompromising people. They visit the remnants of a federal prison built in the 1930s specifically to confine hundreds of Doukhobors arrested for protesting without clothing.

‘The cousins hear heart-rendering accounts of how families were torn apart when the BC government cracked down on the Sons of Freedom and removed hundreds of children from their families. In one of the most moving scenes in the film, Benthin finds Vera, a long-lost cousin who was one of the last children taken away from a Doukhobor community in the Kootenays; and the story unfolds further as Vera recounts the challenges and hardship of her experiences.

The Spirit Wrestlers. 2002. 94 minutes. English. Captioned. Colour. VHS. Produced and directed by Jim Hamm Productions Ltd. Available from Jim Hamm Productions Ltd., 2555 Trinity Street, Vancouver, BC V5K 1E3 Canada.

Posted on YouTube 2016 by Larry Ewashen.

Review by Koozma J. Tarasoff July 2002, entitled ‘The Spirit Wrestlers Film by Jim Hamm is not about the Wider Doukhobor Society.’

‘A new documentary is about to be shown on Television on History Channel on July 31^st. The 94-minute documentary The Spirit Wrestlers by Jim Hamm, described by him as “a century of Doukhobor Life in Canada”, unfortunately does not reach the goal of the Vancouver filmmaker. It is not about the wider Doukhobor society. This is a film about the Sons of Freedom group and has value for it.

‘For the first time in film history, Hamm has attempted to show in depth the causes of burnings, bombings, and nudity done by an extremist group within the Sons of Freedom. Using rare archival footage (including police records) of select historic events and building the story by way of very interesting interviews with professors, retired RCMP officers, Sons of Freedom, and Doukhobors, Hamm’s film skillfully evokes emotions. Very powerful is the story of the “genocidal” act of Bennett’s BC Government in forcefully taking away the children in an attempt to assimilate them through public school education.

‘Camerawork and sound were professional done, also. Except for a few minor errors (wrong photo of Peter P. Verigin; date of the new nudity law was 1931, not 1930; 733,400 acres were granted to the Doukhobors in 1899, not 350,000; and several others), the filmmaker and his team have generally done their homework on their main focus of the zealots.

‘The film opens with a full blast of arson and nudity and it’s shocking to see the title The Spirit Wrestlers superimposed on those images. There is no connection between the wider Doukhobor society and that of arson and nudity. The peaceful Doukhobors have for years lobbied against the acts of terrorism. This mistake is discriminatory and not fair!

‘In the content of the 94-minute film, 72 minutes were devoted to the Sons of Freedom and only 19 minutes to the Doukhobors. There were 28 clips on burnings and bombings, 31 on nudity, and 39 showed the power of the police. It is incorrect to use the sub-titled captions “former Sons of Freedom Doukhobor” for the speakers (15 cases were used). Instead, ‘brought up in a Sons of Freedom family” (which was also used) would be more accurate.

‘The real title of Jim Hamm’s film ought to be Sons of Freedom because it would cover the intended content. This is not a film about our Doukhobor ancestors and the contemporary Doukhobors who have preserved and cultivated for generations the profound rich Doukhobor spirit with its culture, traditions, and Russian language. Definitely this is not a film about us! It is sad because once again a great idea was exploited by sensationalism.

‘Without the change of the title, Jim Hamm will ultimately fall into the same trap that Simma Holt fell in her book Terror in the Name of God – The Story of the Sons of Freedom Doukhobors. Holt’s book was about the zealots or Sons of Freedom, but not about the Doukhobors. She described the terrorist acts of the extremists as if they were part of the philosophy and behaviour of the wider Doukhobor society. This is inaccurate and unjust!

‘In comparison, a rough similarity of error would be if someone today is making a film about the Moslem people and the content of this film would be 80% on terrorism. Moslems would be outraged.

‘In my forthcoming book Spirit Wrestlers: Doukhobor Pioneers’ Strategies for Living, to be released in the Fall, one of the 100 biographies is on the celebrated Doukhobor lawyer Peter G. Makaroff who rightly stated many years back that “the moment a person participates in an act of violence, he or she automatically removes him-or-herself from the Doukhobor movement”….

‘Jim Hamm needs urgently to correct the title of the film before its television premiere on the History Channel at 9 p.m. on July 31^st.

‘Perhaps, too, Jim could contemplate doing a sequel: The Real Story of the Spirit Wrestlers.’  See LIST

Anna Markova: Forgiveness in Exile. 2005. English. 25 minutes (???). Colour.VHS and DVD. Written, Directed and Produced by Susan Poizner. Cinematographer: Stefan Randstrom, Kevin Dimitroff. Editor: Calvin B. Grant. Website: www.mothertongue.ca Teacher’s notes included for post-viewing questions.

Anna Markova: Forgiveness in Exile is item 3 in a 13-part ‘Mother Tongue TV’ documentary series that explores women’s history in ethnic Canada. Each episode tells the story of a notable woman in one of Canada’s communities.

Most of her family had already escaped persecution in Russia for a life of freedom in Canada when Anna Markova, the granddaughter, daughter and mother of three generations of Russian Doukhobor leaders, disappeared into Siberian exile in the 1940s.

Tolstoy and the Doukhobors. 2005. Russian and English versions on DVD video. 30 minutes. Colour. A multimedia project using historic photos. Narrated by Peter P. Rezansoff. Produced by Pall Musaev. Script and storyboard by Myler Wilkinson. Creative team: Seann Einerson, David Tosoff, Bernie K and Fred W. Makortoff. Multimedia Committee: Peter P. Rezansoff, Paul Musaev, John J. Verigin Jr., Alex Jmaeff, Koozma J. Tarasoff, Myler Wilkinson, Fred W. Makortoff, Jim E. Popoff and Teresa & Ernie Verigin. Choir contributions: Expo Choir, United Doukhobor Centennial Choir, Tri Choir, Kootenay Men’s Choir, Repins Family Album, Krestova Men’s Choir, Krestova Youth Choir, USCC Dedication Choir, Blaine Lake Doukhobor Choir and the Georgian Doukhobor Choir. Principal sponsor: Intertech Construction Group. Russian translation by Vladimir Tolstoy, Yasnaya Polyana, Tula, Russia. Available from Peter P. Rezansoff of Intertech Group, 150 Howe Street, Vancouver, BC V6Z 1N1. Archived website: tolstoy.ca

This film is a culmination of a Bakery Café and Communications project which was officially opened in Yasnaya Polyana, Tula, and Russia on 21^st September 2005. From the DVD jacket: ‘This Bakery Café was developed in partnership by the Yasnaya Polyana Administration and the Friends of Tolstoy to commemorate the centenary of the migration of the Doukhobors from Russia to Canada in 1899. It stands as testimony to the enduring gratitude of these Christian pacifists to Lev Nikolaevitch Tolstoy for his moral and material support in their time of need, and to the continuing friendship between the Tolstoy family and the Doukhobor community.’