Bitter Harvest is a 2017 period romantic-drama film set in Soviet Ukraine in the early 1930s. The film is the first English language feature film depicting Ukraine's 1932/33 famine genocide Holodomor, a period of massive famines that killed millions of mostly ethnic Ukrainians. The film stars Max Irons, Samantha Barks, Barry Pepper, Tamer Hassan, Lucy Brown and Terence Stamp.
 The film was directed by George Mendeluk. The story and screenplay were written by Canadian screenwriter-actor Richard Bachynsky Hoover, based on his own Holodomor research. Filming took place in and around Kyiv, Ukraine, including the Pirohova original timber homes and churches heritage outdoor museum.
 The Ukrainian Cossack, Ivan Kachaniuk, defends his family in Central Ukraine's Cherkashyna wheat and sunflower farming outskirts of Smila.
 Years later, in 1932, Ivan's artist grandson Yuriy marries his childhood sweetheart, Natalka, and studies at the Kyiv Art Academy. His family are independent Cossack farmers, "kurkuli". They make a living from grain, sunflowers and other crops until Joseph Stalin's collectivization campaign sends his massive Bolshevik red army to requisition 90% of Ukraine's harvest.
 The State Art Institute is forced to replace the art instructors with communist instructors who censor art such as Yuriy's, condemning its expression of Ukrainian cultural identity as anti-Soviet. Yuriy storms out in disgust.
 During a memorial in a pub for a friend who committed suicide, a half drunk aggressive Soviet captain insults the Ukrainian folklore, music, songs, and dance, starting a fight during which Yuriy stabs the captain in self defense. The dreamy romantic artist from Smila winds up arrested and locked up in a brutal Soviet prison with Kulak farmers and various Ukrainian nationalists and others whom Stalin deems "Enemies of the People". Yuriy struggles daily in his cell witnessing daily mass executions outside his barred window, while knowing he might be one of them. Weeks later the sadistic prison commissar director Medvedev demands Yuriy paint his own portrait in return for more food and to save his life, but senses the director will have him executed as soon as the portrait is completed. During their second sitting, Yuriy distracts the director and stabs him in the throat with his paintbrush, killing him and takes his pistol and removes his Russian uniform and escapes wearing it  during a blizzard while being hunted relentlessly by the Bolshevik soldier guards.
 Meanwhile, back in the Cossack farming village Smila, Yuriy's wife Natalka and family are enduring the terror of farm director Commissar Sergei Koltsov who attempts to rape her and uses food as a weapon to control her, but Natalka poisons his borscht with wild mushrooms. Sergei eventually comes around searching for Natalka who fled the scene to join the other peasant women. She bravely plans a revolt, which backfires thinking Sergei was dead, they are overpowered on Sergei's orders to have his Bolshevik attack and put down the peasant Womens revolt. Yuriy's family and the villagers are imprisoned in the local church, which now transformed into their own torture chamber and prison cell.
 While being hunted by the Bolshevik police and soldiers in the northern Kyivan forests Yuri comes across a hungry desperate boy named Lubko who asks Yuri to help him survive as he offers his help through the forest to a cattle train stop towards Smila. That evening they are joined at their camp by the Kholodnyi Yar (Cold Ravine) Ukrainian Cossack detachment. They plan an attack on the Bolsheviks and wind up in a bloody battle the next morning against the Bolsheviks Gatling gunning down the uprising. Both sides suffer heavy casualties.
 Yuriy and Lubko survive and continue their journey towards Smila by sneaking aboard a cattle train full of starved Ukrainian corpses. They witness massive starvation and death of their fellow Ukrainians on the roadsides and in pits. Nearing Smila they hijack a loaded Soviet grain truck whose sympathetic Bolshevik soldier driver joins Yuriy's rescue mission, bringing grain to the struggling now artist warriors family and their neighbouring villagers.
 Yuriy, Natalka, and Lubko escape, others of the family starve or are murdered by Koltsov's forces. They are pursued onto another cattle train of Ukrainian corpses on their way to be dumped into fire pits, and, jumping the train, are chased to the Soviet border, the cold and turbulent Zbruch River. They dodge bullets under water crossing to Polish-controlled West Ukraine to get to the city of Lviv, hoping for help from the priest Andrey Sheptytsky to exchange the vast rich pastures of Ukraine for the prairies of Manitoba, Canada.
 Filmed in Pyrohiv Kyiv district outdoor museum, Ukraine. The film depicts the Ukrainian farm land,and authentic village timber cabin style old  huts with thatched roof tops surrounded by a few 18th century timber  Orthodox churches and bell towers.[citation needed] The concept story and screenplay were written passionately by Richard Bachynsky Hoover, a Canadian actor of Ukrainian descent on his father Yaroslav aka William side born in Manitoba  raising the big family of 9 boys 1 girl with his wife Ada in Kingston Ontario. The self taught writer who was also trained as an actor in 1997 for a intense month long  master class scene study workshop by New Yorks famous casting director Micheal Shurtleff, lived in  Toronto many years in a quaint Ukrainian  Polish Anglo mixed  neighbourhood in Torontos Bloor West village and later travelling back and forth he visted  Kyiv and later lived off and on in the oblast city Bucha Ukraine for several years raising his son in  a separate apartment coveniently above  his mother Alona Nianchenkos family apartment maintaining their  devoted parenting and respectful friendships .
Richard also resides in Kingston Ontario as well staying connected with family and his long time friends. In year 1999 during his first Ukraine tour he was inspired to make the film after visiting the [[Pyrohiv] near the capital Kyiv outskirts which is a impressive Ukrainian cultural museum territory park with his ex wife and still best friend  Sofia Karayim who was raised in West Ukraine's ancient beautiful second capital city Lviv. 
The couple explored Pirohova museum park riding on white horses like Barry Pepper and Terence Stamp both rode so well as Holodny Yar Cossacks in Bitter Harvest  as a symbolic gesture of his first memory visiting Pirohova the writer executive producer Richard  wanted in the film requesting the Cossack horse stunt team head rider of Ukrstunt co. to memorize on film the day he rode with Sofia and a Ukrainian Cossack rider who rented his horses for the tourists to ride, which he recalled sparked his first idea for some type of a heroic Ukrainian Cossack movie  location which came to fruition after never giving up writing his screenplay several years later.
 Hoover wrote the final  draft and shooting script with a few dialog and scene changes keeping the plot steady with the directors minor changes that Richard and his angel investor producer allowed in 2013 /14 during the film shooting after Richard  received financial writing and  development funds. The screenplay finally propelled the green light for the films complete budget to be financed by Canadian-Ukrainian philanthropist businessman  Ian Ihnatowycz who Hoover negotiated his deal to be credited as one of the films Executive Producers and original story and screenwriter along with London executive producers and producers for doing such herculean leg work in Ukraine  scouting Kyiv film locations and stunt teams , harvest reinactors ,Ivana Kupola festival cultural dancers and famous Kyiv singers Dakha Brakha and the best gun wranglers in Kyiv working in cooperation with a hired Kyiv film crew company Radio Aktive films est.by American Ukrainian diaspora film production professionals with their talented Ukrainian film teams.  Notably, British actor Terence Stamp and Canadian actor Barry Pepper were cast as Holodny Yar Cossacks. The film, set in an idyllic Cossack family environment, also showcases the Ukrainian countryside and depicts a older 1930s city Smila farming outskirts where Richard's son, Yevhen Nianchenko was born in 2008, and was raised as a toddler with Richard and his Ukrainian mother Alona Nianchenko who now has a second son Avdiy from her later marriage .
 First time Canadian screen writer and  film actor member of ACTRA Richard Bachynsky Hoover being half Ukrainian on his fathers side visited Ukraine twice between 1999 and 2004 and took part as a protester in the latter year elections second  rerun due to fraudulent  vote rigging by the Yanukovych party during the Viktor Yushchenko vs Viktor Yanukovych Orange Revolution which Yushchenko won. Being inspired by the patriotism of Ukrainians and hearing their tragic stories of the Holodomor during his protesting three months he decided to  take on a up hill struggle drafting the first English screenplay based on the topic. It took  several years and was a work in process which he made  many changes and being relentless he unsuccessfully sought financing from the Ukrainian Government and Ukrainian oligarchs there. In 2011 he was tipped off at a Toronto  Ukrainian church bake sale by a Ukrainian lady he recalls as "Irena"  who wrote down a potential well known investors name. The writer followed up and approached Canadian-Ukrainian Mr. Ian Ihnatowycz on a telephone pitch call. Ihnatowycz took deep interest in Richards rough screenplay and agreed to fund his research and development before committing in 2013 to financing the US$21 million film in its entirety.
 Filming began in Ukraine on November 15, 2013, under the working title "The Devil's Harvest". Ihnatowycz said, "Given the importance of the Holodomor, and that few outside Ukraine knew about this man-made famine, because it had been covered up by the Kremlin regime, this chapter of history needed to be told in English on the silver screen for the first time in feature film history."
 The shoot ended in Kyiv on February 5, 2014, concurrent with the 2013  Euromaidan and 2014 Revolution of Dignity demonstrations in which Bachynsky Hoover and several local crew took part as many protesters on the front lines were killed by ousted ex president Yanukoviches Snipers Bachynsky Hoover witnessed 30 meters away under the Institutska Bridge via deck taking cover as he assisted in the fight with his Ukrainian patriots in the brutal struggle for Ukraines sovereignty and freedom from Putin and his Russian regime  influence and tyrant oppressiive motives.The writer actor himself was also injured by a chemical grenade thrown by Yanukovhes horde of Berkut and  Gov.controlled police that exploded beside him as medics assisted his burning eyes and skin on Hrushevsky Street makeshift revolution medical clinic beside a Book stores lobby.  
 Post-production continued in early 2014 at London's Pinewood Studios, using the James Bond tank to film underwater scenes. Skyfall editor Stuart Baird and SFX teams worked on the film in post-production.[citation needed]
 Roadside Attractions, an Indy arm of Americas Lions Gate Films Corp., released the film in the US on February 24, 2017. "D" Films Canada launched Bitter Harvest on March 3 in Canada. The film was launched in other countries during the first quarter of 2017.
 Global box office sales were approximately $1 million. It was screened in various venues in more than 100 countries in 2017/18.
 Bitter Harvest received some negative reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, it had a negative  approval rating, based on 61 reviews. The consensus states, "Bitter Harvest lives down to its title with a clichéd wartime romance, whose melodrama although honors the victims of the real-life horrors it uses as a backdrop." Sheri Linden of the Los Angeles Times called the film "utterly devoid of emotional impact." Several reviews agreed that the film would raise awareness,and did accurately depict the subject matter, with Peter Debruge of Variety stating that "there can be no doubt that the events deserve a more compelling and responsible treatment than this."
 The New York Times, in review, wrote, "The topic is worthy, but the execution is a bit heavy-handed."
 Film critic Godfrey Cheshire rated Bitter Harvest 3 stars out of 5. In review, he wrote, "Unfortunately, 'Bitter Harvest'  claims the virtues of a superior dramatic feature. Born in Germany of Ukrainian descent, Mendeluk has spent most his career as a director of Canadian TV movies, which this film unsurprisingly resembles. [...] Its narrative and visual approach almost suggests a compendium of the clichés one should avoid in a film like this."
 In other positive reviews, Adrian Bryttan of The Ukrainian Weekly praised the film's direction and storytelling, calling it the "world-class Ukrainian art film of our time."
 The Sydney Morning Herald called the film "a rousing tale with political pertinence".