New York - The Association for the Study of Nationalities (ASN) kicked off its annual convention at Columbia University this week with a plethora of sessions devoted to Ukrainian issues. Among this year's convention offerings are a number of film presentations of a Ukrainian interest. Yesterday, two controversial films were aired about the murder of journalist Heorhiy Gongadze and the presidential tape scandal that rocked Ukraine last year.

Journalist and film director Susie Davis debuted her first documentary "Bring Me the Head of Georgiy Gongadze", which is still a work in progress. Its primary goal, according to Ms. Davis, is to bring attention to the deficiencies in freedom of the press in Ukraine. After the screening, Myroslava Gongadze, wife of the murdered journalist, expressed her support for the documentary saying that it will prove to be the "golden" one among the three films produced so far about her husband.

The second film screened at yesterday's session was the notorious "PR", based on the Melnychenko tapes. Released just prior to the recent parliamentary elections in Ukraine, it attempts to document several parallel conspiracies involving Ukrainian politicians Viktor Yushchenko and Oleksandr Moroz, the United States, and Russia, all allegedly designed to unseat President Kuchma.