Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1475048
24 FA L L 2 0 2 2 I C A S Q U A R T E R L Y Xenia Vinogradova showing some of the walkie-talkies purchased through Safe&Sound Ukraine. I asked Xenia and Dmytro where they were in their careers before the commencement of their country's international conflict, what has happened since then, and what their hope for the future is. Xenia, please tell me about Safe&Sound. When the war started, we joined forces with my colleagues from abroad to create the Safe&Sound Ukraine organization. We decided to focus on providing secure encrypted communication that will help our first responders stay connected at all times, even when enemy troops have entered a city and disrupted all cellular connections and internet. Fulfilling such a task has been quite a challenge for many reasons, not the least is that you need to raise a lot of money to keep covering the requests. For example, one walkie-talkie that's suitable for war conditions costs more than $500. Finding dealers for purchasing products that are in very high demand and low supply, and then transporting them to Ukraine is, of course, more difficult than ever. But despite all the tough situations that we are dealing with, for me, this is a story about togetherness, generosity, and strength. We've raised more than $107,000, and were able to provide a lot of locations with equipment. I have a lot of gratitude and respect for each member of our tireless team. While working on this initiative, we've become close friends. The whole initiative is functioning on a volunteer basis, and most of our team members are from the film sound circles. I was happy to discover that, in such times, people in our community don't stand aside but are ready to help. The requests for equipment keep coming from the aid workers on the front lines, so we continue working and looking for partnerships and contributions, and we're very happy to receive support. Let's go back in time a bit. Having both been born and raised in Ukraine, what type of television and films did you have access to and how did that influence your decision to get into professional sound? Dmytro: I spent my youth in a small provincial town in the central part of Ukraine. From that period of time, I only remember watching TV with some boring programs or old school Western movies. A little later, pirated discs with [poor] dubbing began to be popular. Sometimes you could go to the cinema, but only Soviet films or cartoons were shown there on an old film projector. I can't say that we had a wide range of entertainment. Xenia Vinogradova showing some of the walkie-talkies purchased through Safe&Sound Ukraine. than ever. But despite all the tough situations that we are dealing with, for me, this is a story about togetherness, generosity, and strength. We've raised more than $107,000, and were able to Ukraine Foley team Illia Popel and Dmytro Kniazhechenko