ELLIE SUTTLE

Russian artist Sasha Skochilenko was sentenced to 7 years in prison for swapping supermarket price tags with anti-war messaging under Russian 'war censorship laws', introduced days after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Following our campaign to raise the profile of her case she was included in a high-profile prisoner swap and now lives in Berlin with her girlfriend Sonia where I went to meet her and interview her for this film.

Ten-year-old Varya and her mum fled Russia after authorities arrested Varya for changing her WhatsApp profile picture to an image of the Ukraine flag. Under new Russian laws, children can be taken from their parents and sent to orphanages for 're-education', if it is suspected that they are speaking up against Russia's war on Ukraine. I scripted, filmed and edited this film. It was filmed near their refugee hotel where they live and await their asylum approval.

I storyboarded and scripted the film, commissioned and managed the film production agency and led on all behind the scenes details, such as location reconnaissance, consent gathering and risk assessments. For full 360 video head to: www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtLdTKPvJi0

I met Fatumata during a content trip to Liberia in 2020. As soon as she began to tell me her inspirational story of how she had turned her life around I knew hers was a tale that needed to be told. This film was broadcast on BBC News and shown during the campaign launch event for Start Her Enterprise [SHE], Y Care International's campaign to tackle unemployment among young women across West Africa. Despite being moved online at the last moment, the launch event raised over £10,000, and engaged multiple high value corporate partners.