Entertainment Community Supports Democratic Elections in Ukraine

(Hollywood, California - December 18, 2004) Academy Award® winning actor Jack Palance, Academy Award ® winning director Robert Wise, television star David Duchovny, and RKO Studios president Paul Speaker are among the 130 names gathered on a petition calling for free elections in Ukraine and supporting the pro-democratic demonstrations that have thronged Kyiv following serious irregularities that surfaced in the presidential run-off election of November 21. The Hollywood Trident Foundation (HTF), formed under Palance's leadership to facilitate contact among professionals working in the entertainment industry who are interested in Ukrainian affairs, initiated the petition. The foundation is a non-profit 501 (c) (3) organization registered with the Internal Revenue Service. The petition has been sent to Ukraine to be shared with demonstrators still on the streets of Kyiv as well as with others through the local news media.

Serious concerns arose during the course of the election campaign when presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko became ill and was subsequently diagnosed as the target of a poisoning attempt. Other election irregularities that particularly concerned Western governments and observers were the interference in the electoral process on the part of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who personally came to Ukraine on at least two occasions to support pro-Moscow candidate Viktor Yanukovych, and the numerous election ballot violations reported broadly by Western observers monitoring the results of the second round. Exit surveys showed Yushchenko, the pro-NATO and pro-European Union candidate, over 10 points ahead of his competitor, yet the Ukrainian Electoral Commission declared his opponent the winner. Following demonstrations by over a million people in the streets of Kyiv and a far-reaching Western outcry over the unfairness of the process, this decision was overturned by the Supreme Court of Ukraine, which ruled that a new run-off election must be held on December 26, 2004. In addition, Ukraine's parliament passed a vote of non-confidence in the newly elected presidential candidate and later adopted laws to improve the electoral process during the upcoming vote. Thousands of observers from Europe, Canada and the United States are currently making their way to Ukraine to monitor the re-run of the second-round election.

The HTF petition calls on "all foreign governments, especially Russia, to respect Ukrainian sovereignty and to immediately stop interfering in the Ukrainian elections." It also calls "for a fraud-free re-run of the second-round elections to allow the people of Ukraine to make their choice fairly and honestly...and for a fair, transparent and fully internationally monitored re-run election on December 26."

A copy of the petition and the signatures are included below.

Hollywood Trident Foundation
23rd Floor, 660 South Figueroa St.
Los Angeles, Ca 90042
December 18th,2004

Let Freedom Ring in Ukraine for the New Year!

We, the members of the media and entertainment industry in Hollywood and around the world, hereby express our solidarity with our fellow professionals in Ukraine who support the democratic electoral process.

We are moved by the hundreds of thousands of people who braved the freezing cold both day and night for more than two weeks to demand fair and honest elections. We salute and support each and every person who raised a voice for freedom and democracy in Ukraine.

We especially commend the courage of those professionals who work in Ukrainian television, radio and media who refused to mouth further propaganda and who took a stand on behalf of freedom of speech and freedom of the press and who, with great courage, supported the ideals that are so important to a free society and the creative process. We also commend our fellow artists in Ukraine in the recording, sports and performing arts fields who suffered prolonged hunger and freezing cold to stand up for democracy and to entertain and support the pro-democracy demonstrators.

We call on our brothers and sisters in the media industry worldwide to recognize that the pro-democracy movement in Ukraine is embraced by the vast majority of people living in Ukraine, whether they speak Ukrainian or Russian, whether they are Orthodox, Catholic, or Jewish, and whether they live in Eastern or Western Ukraine. The Ukrainian nation is united in its desire for freedom and democracy.

We call on all foreign governments, especially Russia, to respect Ukrainian sovereignty and to immediately stop interfering in the Ukrainian elections. We call on all governments and all people of good faith throughout the world to support the independent democratic process in Ukraine.

We call for a fraud free re-run of the second round of elections to allow the people of Ukraine to make their choice in a fair and honest process. We call on all governments to refute all attempts to subvert the democratic process through the use of delay tactics and legalistic maneuvers. Freedom delayed is freedom denied.

We call for a fair, transparent and fully internationally monitored re-run election on December 26th, 2004.

Let freedom and democracy for all Ukrainians be our gift to the world this holiday season.

Jack Palance - Chairman of the Hollywood Trident Foundation
Elaine Palance - Producer
Peter Borisow - President of the Hollywood Trident Foundation

Alianak, Hrant - Actor/Writer/Director
Andrusiak, Roma - Television Producer, CBC
Andrusiak, Steve - Fanshawe College, Chair of Communication Arts
Antoniuk, David - Filmmaker
Ayoub, Elizabeth - Singer/Actress
Babiuk, Greg - Producer
Badham, John - Film Director
Beley, Raymond - Production Manager, CBC
Bergstresser, Pat - Media Consultant
Bolt, Jeremy - Executive Producer, Impact Pictures
Brytan, Roman - Radio Producer/Host
Caland, Huguette - Actress/Artist
Campbell, Larry Joe - Actor
Carl, Charmian - Writer, Editor
Cattaneo, Anne - Dramaturg, Lincoln Center Theater
Chaim Kline, Eric - Antiquarian Bookseller
Cherneskey, Christyna - Radio Personality
Chittick, David - Actor
Dallas, Eugenia - Author
Demianchuk, Olenka - Television Producer
Dixon, Neill - President, Canadian Music Week
Domanczuk, Taras - Film and Theater Technician
Domville, Philippa - Theatre Actor/Writer
Duchovny, David - Actor, Writer, Director
Egoyan, Atom - Filmmaker
Evanko, Edward - Actor and Singer
Ezrin, Bob - Record Producer
Fedynsky, Alexander - Attorney
Frank, Laurie - Writer/Filmmaker
Glasko, Victor E. - Animator
Gongadze, Myroslava - Radio & TV Journalist
Goy, Luba - Actor, Comedienne
Grass, Clancy - Film Producer
Grdevich, Sabrina - Actor
Halatyn, Slavko - Artist/Producer BeSharp Audio
Harper, Taras (Jason) - Television Producer/Director
Harris, Mark Jonathan - Filmmaker/Novelist
Hrushetska, Maryna - Film Producer
Hurko, Marijka - Television Documentary Producer
Husar, Natalka - Artist
Hussakowsky, Andy - Record Producer
Kapeniak, Vasyl - President of Ukraina TV Corporation
Karasevich, Joan - Actress
Kay-Markson, Alicia - TV Journalist.
Keske, Luba - Senior Vice President, Administration, Business Affairs MGM, UA Studios
Keske, Wally - IATSE, Local 44
Kit, Zorianna - TV Personality
Klufas, Jurij - Producer, Kontakt TV Network
Kochan, Alexis - Musician/Producer
Kochman, Svitlana - Writer
Komichak, Michael - Ukrainian Radio Program, Pittsburgh
Kondracki, Larysa - Film Maker
Korneluk, Keith - Actor
Koropecky,Sergio - Writer/Film Maker
Kostash, Myrna - Writer
Kramarchuk, Alex - VP, CFO STS Media Corp.
Kuchmij, Haliya - Film Maker/Television Producer
Kulyk Keefer, Janice - Author
Kuzyk, Mimi - Actor
Kytasty, Julian - Bandurist
Labunka, Iya - Vice President of Production, Walt Disney Studios
Lada, Mir - Visual artist
Lemonds, Debra - Still photography Editor
Levine, Michael - Public Relations Consultant
Levytsky, Marco - Newspaper Editor and Publisher
Los, Taras - Actor
MacQuarrie, Paulette - Writer, Broadcaster
Makichuk, Jim - Film Producer/Director
Malarek, Victor - TV Journalist, Author
Markewycz, Roxana - Producer
Masnyj, Yuri - Visual Artist
Masnyj, Victor - Editor/Broadcast Designer
Mitchell, Nick - Playwright
Nabereznyj, John (Ivan) - Feature Film Post Production Supervisor
Niven, Barbara - Actress
Nowytski, Slavko - Film Producer
O'Hern, Francis - Sound Engineer
Palance, Holly - Publisher and Actress
Paskievich, John - Film Maker/Photographer
Petani, Lorena - Producer
Pikas, Alexander - Director
Pikolycky, Jaroslaw, DDS - Film Producer
Pitillo, Maria - Actress
Pochmursky, Christina - Film Maker and Journalist
Pultz, David - Film Producer
Rabinovitch, Jack - Founder, The Giller Prize for Excellence in Canadian Fiction
Rudakewych, Lee - Screenwriter
Reshitnyk, Mike - Photojournalist, Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph
Rumak, Oleh - Television Producer
Russ, Dick - Managing Editor, WKYC-TV (NBC)
Saj, Justin - Actor
Santore, Charles - Actor/Director/Producer
Sahula, Abby - Writer
Santore, Christina - Media Writer/Producer/Management/Consultant
Sassounian, Harut - Newspaper Publisher, The California Courier
Sawycky, Roman Jr. - Film Maker
Schellenberg, Augie - Actor
Schlega, Daria - Attorney
Schiffman, Oryna - Writer
Semchyshyn, Taras - Film Distributor
Semeniuk, Ivan - Columnist/Producer, "Daily Planet" Television Show
Semotiuk, Natalie - Actor
Semotiuk, Andriy - Attorney
Simpson, Peter - Chairman of Norstar Filmed Entertainment Inc
Sivo, Yuri President - Delicious Films
Sorenson, Holly - Writer
Spak, Harvey - Film Producer
Speaker, Paul - President RKO Pictures
Stawnychy, Misho - Screenwriter
Steinborn, Mary - Director, Mobius Film Works
Stochansky, Andy - Musician
Sushko, Orest - Re-recording Mixer
Tapscott, Don - Author, Columnist and Media Authority
Taskey, Olanna - Actor
Thorpe, Stephanie - Actor
Toporowych, Roxy - Film Maker, KinoRox Productions
Tymyc, Bohdan - President Yevshan Communications Inc.
Wasik, Walter - CSC, Film producer
Wiess, Elfie - Actor/Singer
Wise, Robert - Director
Wise, Millicent - Producer
Wolansky, Paul - Film Professor/Writer
Woloshyn, Ted - Radio Personality
Wynnycky, Marcus - Actor
Yaskell Winant, Dorcey - Actor/Director
Zabytko, Irene - Writer
Zaitoon, Denise - Director
Zenga, Bo - Writer/Producer