Such was the extent that Stalin covered up the Holodomor, you can’t be blamed for having not heard of it – despite the fact it’s rumoured that around seven million people were killed of starvation in Ukraine, back in 1932.

Since being uncovered properly in the 1990s, few filmmakers have tackled these devastating set of events – but now it’s what sets the precedence for period drama Bitter Harvest, and we had the pleasure of sitting down with the film’s leading duo to discuss the project, and how important it was they shot this film on location.

“In the crew there were people whose grandparents and parents had either survived or not survived the Holodomor it’s a thing that still affects generations today,” Samantha Barks explained. “So to have that in front of your face, people’s stories, you couldn’t ask for more, it’s a story for the Ukrainian people, so it’s best to hear it from them”

Bitter Harvest Movie ImageMax Irons, who plays the former’s love interest in the movie, also explains how he couldn’t quite believe he hadn’t heard of this before, and speaks about the important in giving a voice to those otherwise without one. The pair then discuss their own chemistry on screen and the research they did for their respective roles.

Finally they told us the benefit of being able to speak in their own, British accents during the movie, what it was like working with Terence Stamp (he wrote a healthy cook-book?!) and Irons discusses his role briefly, in the forthcoming picture Terminal, where he stars alongside Mike Myers and Margot Robbie.

Bitter Harvest is released on February 24th.