Ukrainian Creatives make in-roads with local industry in London

by Editor2
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As the war between Russia and Ukraine closes out its fourth month, displaced Ukrainians continue to make their way to safe-haven countries, most without any guaranteed prospects of work.

Diana Olifirova โ€” a Kyiv-born and London-based cinematographer โ€” saw the gap that was widening between refugees and the need for work and set about organizing a London networking event that connected recently relocated Ukrainian film and TV professionals with established London industry folk.

On Monday, before the doors even opened at the CVP & ARRI Creative Space, a dozen Ukrainian film industry professionals were already waiting outside, seemingly eager for the evening to begin.

โ€œItโ€™s important to connect people and not neglect introductions,โ€ said Olifirova whose recent credits include Netflixโ€™s โ€œHeartstopperโ€ and Channel 4/Peacockโ€™s BAFTA-winning โ€œWe Are Lady Parts.โ€ Olifirova was astutely aware of the influx of fellow Ukrainians as they reached out to her for connections and possible work.

โ€œThrough some simple conversations, people discover that somebody might need this or that professional, and itโ€™s so important to do [your] bit. Ukrainian filmmakers are very knowledgeable and very hard working and very skilled, so they will do well in the industry here,โ€ she said.

Olifirova expected about 30 Ukrainians to attend along with a handful of Londoners, but Creative Spaceโ€™s chic basement room overflowed with more than 60 refugees and 30 potential recruiters. Attendees included the cinematographer Gary Young; head of Cheat post-production house Toby Tomkins; and production designer Kave Quinn and her husband, first assistant director Aiden Quinn.

โ€œIf thereโ€™s anything we can do to help, [we will],โ€ said Quinn, who has sponsored and homed aspiring opera singer Oryna Veselovska since the beginning of the war.

Veselovskaโ€™s father is the special effects supervisor, mechanical SFX and rig master and product master Timur โ€œJimโ€ Veselovsky. He has worked with the production company Radioaktiv Films (HBOโ€™s โ€œChernobylโ€) and production designer Volodymyr Radlinskiy, who is Quinnโ€™s colleague.

โ€œ[Volodymyr] emailed to ask if anyone can do things remotely โ€” mood boards, art department concepts, or anything like that,โ€ said Quinn. โ€œSo, if you canโ€™t help people here, now, physically, you can help them by [linking them up to remote work]. I would like to encourage fellow PDs and production companies to try to employ remotely some of these talented film art department crew left in Ukraine.โ€ (Variety)

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