The former serf Fedir Semerenko was a descendant of the Cossacks. He bought his freedom himself and became one of the most successful entrepreneurs in Tsarist Russia in the 19th century. His youngest son, Vasyl, returned from Paris, where he studied engineering in order to restore the company of his father that had fallen into decline after the death of his elder brother Platon. Vasyl and his young wife Sophia, who was a descendant of French nobles who had settled in Ukraine, became not only the successful entrepreneurs, but also the most generous philanthropists supporting Ukrainian culture. But when the Bolsheviks came to power, the property of Vasyl Semerenko was nationalized. Find out about the story of an amazing couple of philanthropists, Vasyl and Sophia, in the second part of the film, “Vasyl” in the documentary series “The Game of Fate” by VIATEL Studio narrated by Natalka Sopit.
- Script by Halyna Kryvorchuk, Jurii Kryvorchuk
- Narrations Natali Sopit, Taras Denysenko
- Directed by Vasyl Viter
- Director of photography Georgij Kryvoshejenko
- Sound Oleg Golovoshkin, Kateryna Kel
- Editor Oleg Tudoran
- Make up Olga Bondarenko
- Costume LAURA ASHLEY ™
- Music De Wolfe Music
- Camera Oleksandr Demydenko
- Executive producer Halyna Kryvorchuk
- Producer Vasyl Viter
The shooting took place at:
– at the L.P. Symyrenko Institute of Pomology of the Academy of Agrarian Sciences
– at the Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko Museum of Arts
– at the Museum of House by Mykhajlo Starytsky
We used:
– the photo documents of the National Memorial Museum of the Symyrenko Family
– the materials of the “Rodovid” (editor’s comment: The Family Tree) periodical No.10
– the H.S. Pshenychnyi Central State Film and Photo Archive of Ukraine documents
– the fragments of films “Without a Dowry”, “Among The People”, “Childhood”, “My Universities”, “Living Corpse”, “Dubrovskyi”
Backstage
