Safe Light | Sound Design |
Dir. Greg Bushell | UK | 2025
In Kyiv, Ukrainian photographer Vic Bákin documents youth and queer subcultures against the scars of war for his latest photo series Epitome
Based in Kyiv, Ukrainian photographer Vic Bákin contemplates coming-of-age against the backdrop of war, documenting youth and queer subcultures as the country undergoes its own evolution. Seeing his focus shift as the landscape of the city transforms around him, his work investigates masculinity, fragility and belonging amid the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, carrying the weight of its context with many of his subjects now enlisted in the war.
Connecting with Bákin online, London-based visual artist Greg Bushell travelled to Kyiv to capture how the war on Ukraine has affected his practice for short film Safe Light. Finding refuge in his makeshift darkroom, Bákin confronts unprocessed memories of his new reality for his latest photo series and book Epitome, recognising scarred facades and the stains of conflict in the tactile imperfections of analog formats.
Shot on 16mm and Super-8 film, and scored by Ukrainian avant-garde pioneers Cukor Bila Smert' alongside artists Bryozone, Polje, Yuri Lugovskoy, Safe Light reflects on resilience and memory in a Ukraine changing under Bákin’s lens, and the power of creativity to reclaim humanity amidst destruction.
The Candy Lady | short film
Dir. Taylor Walker | USA | 2023
Sound designer
A 2D animated short film about a young Black girl who must find an alternative way to get her favorite snack after it sells out.
Dir. Dan Guthrie | UK | 2022
Sound designer
After seeing a mention of a man called ‘Daniel’ on a Bishop’s Transcript held in Gloucestershire Archives, Dan goes for a walk in the woods in search of the man buried in Nympsfield in 1719 and described on the Transcript as ‘a black stranger’. Whilst walking, Dan talks directly to Daniel, speculating about the parallels between him and his namesake, and about how he’s been made to feel like a ‘black stranger’ in his hometown of Stroud.
black strangers is part of Right of Way, a new feature-length programme that mixes stunning new artists’ commissions with historical archive films that give a bigger picture of questions of access and inclusion in the UK countryside. This programme is presented by the ICO and LUX and supported by the BFI Film Audience Network and Arts Council England.