PRESS RELEASE
A portion of all ticket sales from upcoming May 3 screenings of award-winning Swiss/Ukrainian drama OLGA will go to charity organisation UN Women Australia, which supports women and girls in Ukraine.
Highly topical and powerfully stitched into what’s happening in the world right now, OLGA is set in the bone-jarring world of gymnastics, where its eponymous fifteen-year-old heroine (played by Anastasia Budiashkina, herself an Olympic level gymnast at the time) is faced with a barrage of major life decisions.
Gifted Ukrainian gymnast Olga is a leading athlete in her national team, when violence erupts and engulfs her family, forcing her to flee to Switzerland, where she joins that country’s gymnastics squad.
“I wanted to explore the link between geographical and personal borders,” explains the film’s director Elie Grappe. “I wanted to make a film about exile, with a heroine who feels that she does not belong…Olga is torn between several loyalties and faced with a geopolitical situation beyond her.”
OLGA is a deeply personal work for both the film’s director, Elie Grappe, and its lead, Anastasia Budiashkina, who, like the character in the film, recently fled her native Ukraine for the far safer environs of Switzerland.
As profoundly moving as it is culturally and politically relevant, OLGA will be showcased to local audiences across Australia in a series of special preview screenings to be held nationally on Wednesday May 3, for one night only.
The film’s Australian distributor, Screen Inc., will be donating $6.50 from every ticket sold to UN Women Australia, which is dedicated to supporting women and girls in war-torn Ukraine.
Through its Ukraine Emergency Appeal, UN Women Australia is committed to supporting the people of Ukraine, especially women and girls, at this time of greatest need. In Moldova and Ukraine, UN Women Australia is supporting women’s civil society organisations that assist war- affected populations, as well as essential services for refugee women and girls.
“UN Women Australia is delighted to be associated with Screen Inc. and Dov Kornits to collaborate on a powerful campaign and raise funds for the women and girls of Ukraine,” says UN Women Australia’s CEO, Simone Clarke. “We know that in times of war and crisis, women and girls face higher risks than men, including higher rates of conflict-related sexual violence, exploitation and abuse, trafficking and intimate partner violence – and yet, despite all of this, the resilience, leadership and courage of Ukrainian women and girls is recognised globally. UN Women remains committed to working alongside UN sister agencies, the Ukrainian Government and women’s civil society organisations to ensure the rights of women and girls.”
“With what’s happening in the world today, and the highly topical nature of OLGA, we wanted to align with the right charity for these very special screenings,” says Screen Inc. director Dov Kornits. “With its quietly powerful story of a young woman finding her place in the world while ripped from her family and home country, UN Women Australia is the perfect fit for OLGA. This organisation does incredibly important work helping women around the world, and we are very excited and honoured to be working with them on this very special run of screenings.”
OLGA will enjoy a series of one-night-only charity screenings across Australia on May 3.
