An independent Ambleside cinema is showing a preview screening of an award-winning Ukrainian-led film, with profits being donated to the Disasters Emergency Committe (DEC).

On Friday, March 25 at 8pm, Zeffirellis in Ambleside will be showing Olga, the story of a 15-year-old Ukrainian gymnast training for the European Championship in preparation for the Olympics who is forced to move to Switzerland from her home in Kyiv where her mother works as an investigative journalist reporting on the Euromaidan protests. 

The cinema will donate profits to charities supporting Ukraine
Olga's lead actress Anastasia Budiashkina, who arrived in Poland on Monday, March 21 after leaving Kharkiv in Ukraine to escape the war. 

She said: "I am very glad that Olga will be seen in the UK, and people will see the situation going on with Ukraine. Everyone involved with Olga worked very hard, and I put a part of myself into the film."

Pat Kelman, Director of 606 Distribution, said: “I planned to release Olga in the late Spring, but the invasion of Ukraine made me very nervous about releasing the film at all.

"I realised that this very human and dramatic film set against the Ukraine 2013 Maidan Revolution could now resonate and connect with UK audiences in a meaningful way."

Tickets can be purchased online www.zeffirellis.com/film/olga, or by phone 015394 33845 and in person at the box office.