The ballroom boy with burns who inspired a film

An aspiring ballroom dancer, who was seven when he was injured by a bomb in his native Ukraine, has become the subject of an award-winning London film.

Romchyk is the true story of Roman Oleksiv, who was badly burned in a Russian missile strike in July 2022 which also killed his mother.

The movie was filmed by students at Goldsmiths, University of London, in and around their campus in New Cross.

It was even shown to the Pope during the Vaticans global summit looking into protecting children from war.

The film was the brainchild of Kostiantyn Bidnenko, who proposed making a short piece about Roman to his fellow Goldsmiths MA students.

It examines the boys recovery and attempts to pursue his dreams of becoming a professional dancer.

"I saw a news article about what happened to Roman," Mr Bidnenko said.

"For me he became a symbol of all children who suffer because of war."

Lara Kozah, who was also part of the student production team, said: "It was a challenge to convincingly transform London into Ukraine for the filming.

"We used a nearby park for the outdoor scenes. We repurposed a classroom for the hospital scenes.

"We built a bedroom in a studio from scratch."

A local Ukrainian society helped them cast the actors.

They met the Pope to show him the film during the Vaticans International Summit on Childrens Rights in early February.

Ms Kozah said it was a "surreal experience" and an honour.

"The Holy Father really engaged with the film.

"We want to show this story worldwide to show people what the real consequences of war are for children."

Romchyk won an award at the Cambria Film Festival in California, and is being entered into other international short film festivals.

Kostiantyn said: "The biggest award for me is that Roman and his father really liked this film and the careful way we handled his story."

Additional reporting by Clifford Thompson

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