Iconic Ukrainian restaurant Veselka documentary makes CNN’s 2024 watchlist

CNN has included a documentary about Veselka, the iconic Ukrainian restaurant in New York City, in its list of must-see documentaries of 2024.

The film, titled Veselka: The Rainbow on the Corner at the Center of the World, chronicles the restaurant’s evolution in New York’s “Little Ukraine” neighborhood. Veselka is known for serving traditional Ukrainian dishes like varenyky and borshch. The documentary also explores how the restaurant gained new significance following Russia’s all-out war against Ukraine in 2022.

Notably, the film is narrated by actor David Duchovny, who grew up just two blocks from the restaurant and witnessed its transformation over the decades. Duchovny has Ukrainian roots—his grandfather emigrated to the US from Berdychiv in Zhytomyr Oblast.

The documentary premiered on 23 February 2024, just ahead of the second anniversary of Russia’s war, UkrInform reports.

Veselka was founded in 1954 by Ukrainian immigrants Volodymyr and Olha Darmokhval, who relocated to the US in the late 1940s.

Earlier, TrueAchievements revealed that the Ukrainian game “S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl” became one of the most popular games on the Xbox platform.

It surpassed Minecraft, which had held the top spot for years, Roblox, GTA 5, the football simulator EA FC 25, formerly known as FIFA, and another newcomer, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024.

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