Veselka: The Rainbow on the Corner at the Center of the World

An extremely touching documentary with multiple layers of endearing subjects, from Little Ukraine in NYC, to a wonderful family restaurant, to showing support for Ukraine. It moves from a general overview to a emotionally charged look at the lives changed by the Russian invasion. The documentary stands as an indepth look at the traumatic stress caused by war on those far from the battle lines through the emotional suffering of loved ones, and presents how human interaction and compassion can be the ultimate gift for those suffering from war inflicted trauma. Though the documentary does not look indepth at the Russian invasion of Ukraine directly, the viewer can feel the horror inflicted directly on those involved. A must see!

The minute I heard there was going to be a documentary made about the incredible East Village haunt, Veselka, I knew I had to watch. Am I glad I did!

I walked away from this movie completely moved. A powerful story of community, the impact small businesses play in the fabric of world events (in this case, the war in Ukraine), and family.

The empathy, great sense of community care, vulnerability, and joy of the people featured in the documentary is palpable. You can feel their impact and intentions emanate from the screen.

I encourage all to watch Veselka and to find the people doing this important work in their own communities. This is how we change the world.

Honestly, this film had me at Veselka, the delicious east village staple that's been around for many years but what I didn't expect was how moving the story turned out to be in relation to the war in the Ukraine. Like all great documentaries and movies in general, the film took me on an emotional journey into the humanity of its' real life characters who deal with the unfolding war over the course of a year.

Ultimately, this is a film about family and the filmmaker's empathy and respect for its' subjects and the cinema verite approach leads to truly poignant moments on screen that will take you from tears to warm laughter. This is the stuff of life and the kind of documentary filmmaking we should all embrace.

As a 30 resident of NYC, who clubbed in the East Village in the good old days, Veselka was an infamous NYC institution that everyone knew for the 24/7. Before social media, before the Internet, and before mobile phones, it was a place that people connected, socialized, ate Re, drank, and lived.

There's no way possible the producers could have ever imagined how poignant and important this documentary is, given just this past week in politics.

I might have initially given it seven stars. There's a much deeper moment in history going on here, especially when put side-to-side to current affairs. For those of you who don't know the legacy, or lived in NYC, I think the story couldn't be more relevant to each and every one of us, on levels were about to understand. The historical parallels, the absolute honesty to the story, and moreover a reminder that empathy and humanity must prevail . . . .It just has to.

Veselka is a terrific film. It is really about family. The film starts with 3 generations of family that founded and grew the Veselka restaurant business in the East Village of NYC. But it is also about the extended Ukrainian family that grew out of that business accelerated by the war in Ukraine. If you are from NYC or Kansas, I believe you will find the story and the people in the film to be inspirational. Actor David Duchovny did a great job narrating Veselka and saxophonist David Sanborn is an important part of the fabulous soundtrack. The film is in limited release now. I reccomend that you find it at a theater near you now!!