Please join us for a film screening of This is also Ukraine, a film directed by artist James Leadbitter, aka the vacuum cleaner, in collaboration with ten young people in Ukraine, which powerfully captures what it means to live in a time of war. 

The screening will be followed by a Q&A with the vacuum cleaner (artist/ director) and Veronika Skliarova (producer of This is also Ukraine and founder of ArtDot NGO).

About the film

Daria, Hanna, Kira, Olexa, Rost, Sasha, Vlada, Vlada, Vesna and Zakhar are ten teenagers who like Radiohead, making art, swimming, dating, watching films and hanging out with their friends. They also live close to the front line.

This is also Ukraine is a poetic, patchwork film of their lives from their point of view: unfiltered, normal and equally extraordinary.

In the spring of 2025, these ten young people began filming, writing, singing, dancing, hugging, laughing, crying and meeting up to make a film about their lives – supported by a team of Ukrainian and British artists, psychologists, and producers. See how these young people have cared for and supported each other to explore their thoughts and feelings on identity, belonging, love, rage and living in the face of, and despite, constant danger.

This is also Ukraine shows the reality, hopes and challenges of a being a teenager, and of experiences that go unheard while the horror and stupidity of war unfolds. It is also really silly at times because, y’know, balance is important.

A film written, filmed and edited by Daria, Hanna, Kira, Olexa, Rost, Sasha, Vlada, Vlada, Vesna and Zakhar, with mentoring from the vacuum cleaner and Oksana Chyzh, Mariia Felenko, Anastasiia Kosodii, Kateryna Krokha and Andrii Ptitsyn. 

About the guests

the vacuum cleaner is the name of a UK based artist and activist who makes candid, provocative and playful work.

His work combines mad pride and disability justice organising, direct action and deep ecology, but always with a lightness and silliness. Over the last 12 years he has focused on design of mad spaces, organising and crip aesthetics. Often working with large groups including young people, health professionals and different communities, his art and activism aims to challenge and change how mental health is understood, treated and experienced.

With roots in activism and radical art, the vacuum cleaner has created one-man interventions and large-scale actions as well as performance, installation and film. His work has been shown in galleries, theatres, hospitals and schools and has appeared on streets, within social movements and in public spaces internationally.

Veronika Skliarova is a Ukrainian cultural manager, theatre producer, and art curator whose work sits at the intersection of artistic innovation, psychosocial healing, and civic engagement. She is the founder of Art Therapy Force, a pioneering national initiative that integrates trauma‑informed art practices into Ukraine’s cultural, educational, and rehabilitation sectors. Under her leadership, Art Therapy Force has become a major contributor to Ukraine’s psychosocial recovery ecosystem, partnering with universities, hospitals, shelters for displaced persons, and international organizations to deliver art therapy training and direct support to children, adolescents, veterans, and internally displaced families.

Skliarova is also the director of NGO ART DOT, one of Ukraine’s leading independent multidisciplinary arts organizations, known for cultivating cultural resilience, civic activism, and inclusive public space through contemporary performing arts. She has produced numerous projects addressing human rights, identity, inclusion, and the lived experience of communities affected by war. ART DOT’s initiatives include the long‑running Parade‑Fest, urban research and performance projects, international cultural diplomacy efforts, and major touring productions such as Crimea, 5 a.m., Ukrainian Odyssey, and Lesia. History

Dr Henry Redwood is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London. His research examines how communities respond to and rebuild after war, with a particular focus on the role of the arts, archives, and aesthetics in shaping experiences of violence, trauma, and recovery.

His current work centres on Ukraine, where he collaborates with local partners to design and research trauma‑informed arts programmes for war‑affected populations. This includes co‑developing new artistic interventions and contributing to initiatives such as the June 2024 Trauma‑Informed Arts summer school in Kyiv, aimed at supporting communities experiencing the immediate and long‑term impacts of Russia’s invasion.

Dr Redwood’s work is supported by ESRC and AHRC grants, and he publishes widely on the intersections of conflict, artistic practice, and community formation, including with Cambridge University Press and journals such as International Political Sociology and Journal of Peacebuilding & Development.

This event is part of University Refugee Week ( 2 to 8 March), explore all the events happening at King's.