From frontline to Oscars red carpet: Ukrainian producer swaps body armour for black tie
Do you like movies? I do, but sometimes real life is even crazier than the movies.
Azad Safarov is a Ukrainian producer working with Sky News journalists in Ukraine. He is also the assistant director and line producer for the Oscar-nominated documentary film ‘A House Made Of Splinters’. Here he writes about going from the frontline to the red carpet.
In just a short space of time I have gone from being on the frontline in Ukraine, to preparing to walk the red carpet at the Oscars ceremony in Los Angeles. And it’s a strange feeling.
I was born into a poor family in Azerbaijan, and because of the war in Nagorny Karabakh and financial problems, my family decided to move to Ukraine. We settled in Donetsk and became Ukrainian citizens.
I was eight years old at the time, and even then, all I wanted to do was make movies. My cousin and I filmed short sketches and dreamt of selling them to Hollywood.
Azad Safarov with Sky News’s Stuart Ramsay in Ukraine
My mother advised me to become a journalist, because she believed it was the most peaceful profession in Ukraine. But no sooner had I graduated from university and moved to Kyiv in 2014, the protests on the Maidan began – and consequently the war.
As a television journalist, I’ve worked everywhere in Ukraine. Under fire on the frontline, and undercover in the Russian-occupied territory of Ukraine.
My point is, I am much more comfortable in a 12-kilogram bulletproof vest and a helmet than a black-tie tuxedo.
I applied for a special 21-day permit to leave the country when I was told that I was going to the ceremony.
How to watch all the big films nominated for Oscars and BAFTAs
It was granted, and I decided I wanted to wear a sweatshirt or a t-shirt, anything with an inscription or the state coat of arms of Ukraine. But they explained to me that the organisers would simply not let me inside, there is a strict dress code.
‘Deprived of the right to be happy’
I’ve been dreaming of this moment all my life.
I used to watch Oscar ceremonies and imagine winning; I’d imagine how proud my parents, friends and family would be if I ever won the award.
But now the moment has come, and I have a nomination, I can’t say it too loudly or be too happy about it.
“Aren’t you jumping for joy?! This is the Oscars! That’s super cool!” my friends say to me all the time.
I am happy, of course, but the joy is mixed with sadness, because as long as I am here in Los Angeles, on the frontline in Ukraine every day, every hour really, soldiers are dying, protecting our country from our neighbour.
I cannot post funny pictures on social media, because at this very time, millions of Ukrainian civilians are suffering from Russia’s aggression and missiles.
It feels like Russia has deprived us of the right to be happy, to be successful, the right to enjoy life, the right to simply laugh out loud.
A House Made of Splinters is about the consequences of the war
The consequences of war
Our Oscar-nominated documentary film, A House Made of Splinters, is also about the consequences of the war.
The director is the talented Danish filmmaker Simon Lereng Wilmont who I started working with back in 2015, and this is our second film from Ukraine. The first one, The Distant Barking of Dogs, made the Oscar shortlist in 2019.
A House Made of Splinters is about children growing up in a temporary shelter next to the war. It is sad, but at the same time, it is a film about hope. It’s about how Ukrainian children fight for their own happiness, childhood, and the right to live in a family and feel love, even while the war rages on.
It’s an important story to tell, and we have an important mission that goes beyond.
I co-founded the NGO, the Voices of Children Charitable Foundation, with the documentary’s consultant and human rights activist Olena Rozvadovska, and after the Russian invasion, we helped thousands of children, and their families evacuate from the frontline. But the needs are only growing.
Azad also says the movie is a film about hope
Azad Safarov made it to Los Angeles
The entire production team understands that we are competing with big companies and big names at the Oscars, with big budgets for advertising their nominees.
But to win would be incredible, in these dark times we want to give at least one small piece of joy to the country, which has been fighting for freedom and the happiness of being free for so long.
And with this in mind, I will go to the ceremony and hope for the best. I will take two things with me: my father’s broken watch – he died when I was 13 years old – and a brooch in the colours of the Ukrainian flag.
And no, I will not disable the air raid alert app on my phone if there is a notification about it from Ukraine, because to me, the Oscars is one more platform to remind the world about the war.
You can watch the Academy Awards on Sunday 12 March from 11pm exclusively on Sky News and Sky Showcase. And for everything you need to know ahead of the ceremony, don’t miss our special Backstage podcast, out now, plus look out for our special episode on the winners from Monday morning.
Entertainment
Gary Lineker says ‘right time’ to leave Match Of The Day as he hints of changes to show’s format
Gary Lineker has said it is “the right time” to leave Match Of The Day and hinted the BBC could change the format of the Premier League highlights show.
The 63-year-old will step down as host at the end of the season and described his time on the show as an “absolute joy and privilege”.
Speaking on his podcast, The Rest Is Football, he said: “It has been an absolute joy and privilege to present such an iconic show for the BBC.
“But all things have to come to an end.”
Lineker went on to say the broadcaster enters a new three-year deal to host top-flight highlights, and that to stay on for another 12 months “would be a bit weird”.
“I think the next contract they’re looking to do Match Of The Day slightly differently, so I think it makes sense for someone else to take the helm.
“I bowed out in my football career when I felt it was the right time. I feel this is now the right time.”
Lineker refused to speculate who would be taking his place, as rumours grew around Mark Chapman, the regular Match Of The Day 2 presenter, Football Focus host Alex Scott, and BBC sports coverage presenter Gabby Logan.
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“Obviously I don’t know who it’ll be, and I would never tell publicly my preference, I don’t think that’d be the right thing to do – but whoever it is, I would say be yourself,” he said.
“I had to fill the ginormous shoes of certain Des Lynam.
“…I would say just be yourself and enjoy it, it’s a wonderful programme to be a part of. It was brilliant before I took over, and it will be brilliant after I leave.”
Lineker pictured with former MOTD host Des Lynam in 2009. Pic: PA
Lineker has hosted Match Of The Day since 1999 and will have presented the show for more than a quarter of a century when he leaves in May 2025.
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He will continue with the MOTD Top Ten podcast alongside his podcast, which also features BBC pundits Alan Shearer and Micah Richards.
The former England striker has been the BBC’s highest-paid on-air talent for seven consecutive years and was estimated to have earned £1.35m in the year 2023/24.
The BBC said future plans for Match Of The Day would be “announced in due course”.
Coach tickets to Glastonbury 2025 were sold out in half an hour, organisers have said, as they roll out a new booking system for festivalgoers.
They were the first group of tickets to be sold for the world-famous festival in Somerset, which is set to take place between 25 and 29 June.
This year, fans navigated a new system to buy the tickets as they were “randomly assigned a place in a queue” instead of having to refresh the holding page once they went live.
The organisers said in a post on X: “The Glastonbury 2025 tickets + coach travel which were on sale this evening have now all been sold.
“Our thanks to everyone who bought one.”
They added that National Express services would be available to bring festivalgoers from across the country to Glastonbury.
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Standard tickets will go on sale on Sunday at 9am. Last year they were sold out within an hour.
See Tickets said in a post on X that “confirmation emails are going out now to everyone who got @Glastonbury coach tickets this evening”.
Tickets for the annual event at Worthy Farm in Somerset cost £373.50 plus a £5 booking fee, and are sold exclusively through the See Tickets website, with no third-party sellers involved.
The new ticket system has changed the way people join the booking system.
Organisers previously warned hopefuls to log in “at least a few minutes” before the sale opened today and to avoid refreshing the page.
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Festivalgoers were also told not to attempt to game the system by using multiple devices.
The sale follows chaos earlier this year when tickets for the Oasis reunion went on sale, seeing a multitude of disappointed fans as well as those who felt cheated after being charged hundreds of pounds more for their tickets than was originally advertised.
Anyone wishing to buy tickets for Glastonbury must have registered by 11 November, a rule in place to avoid touting.
Entertainment
Christmas adverts – the 10 most-anticipated ads as the festive battle for customers commences
With just under six weeks to go to Christmas Day, the countdown has officially begun, with all the big brands rolling out their seasonal adverts.
Becoming something of an institution over recent years, many see the festive ads as the starting pistol for their Christmas preparation/panic, despite us only being halfway through November.
And with an estimated £10.5bn spent on this year’s Xmas ads, it’s not just about inducing a fuzzy warm feeling in viewers, but also about encouraging them to put their hand in their pocket.
As we brace ourselves for festive fun, we take a swift look at this year’s bevvy of commercial offerings, as the annual battle of the Christmas adverts begins.
John Lewis
A girl called Sally falls into a clothes rack reminiscent of CS Lewis’s The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, but instead of finding Narnia, she ends up in John Lewis.
Pic: PA
Through family flashbacks we lean how much she loves her older sister, whose gift she has carelessly left it to the last minute to buy. Spoiler alert – as one would expect in an advert for a retailer, she finds a pressie.
With the retailer famous for its use of cover versions in their Christmas ads, this one is the origin story for a new cover, with a concurrent competition on TikTok to find an aspiring artist to rerecord a version, which will be featured on the Christmas Day airing and released by record label BMG too.
Waitrose
Marketed as a whodunnit – this big-budget production has a host of celebrity cameos, an intricate storyline and not one but two parts.
Pic: Waitrose
Comedian Joe Wilkinson, Fleabag star Sian Clifford and Succession’s Matthew Macfadyen all have a role in the ensemble, revolving around hunting down the thief of a “chilled desert”.
Being Christmas, when tensions are traditionally high, everyone has reason to have scoffed it. The culprit won’t be revealed until the second part of the ad is released, but in the meantime, activity at Kings Cross Station, in stores and on social media is set to keep the investigation very much alive.
Sainsbury’s
Sainsbury’s goes big for its advert, calling on a beloved Roald Dahl character – the BFG, or Big Friendly Giant – to travel the country with a supermarket worker called Sophie (who pleasingly is a real store employee) in the search for the perfect festive treats.
Pic: Sainsbury’s
A CGI BFG procures salmon, sprouts and cheese before a bit of magic helps him whip it all up into a feast, which he then gifts to an unsuspecting family through the window.
The first ones to release their ad earlier this month, the dulcet tones of national treasure Stephen Fry wrap the action, with a call to arms to stock up in readiness for Christmas.
M&S
Another national treasure – Dawn French – is back for this one, playing both herself and a festive fairy, who gives both French and her home a make-over ready for a Christmas soiree.
Pic: PA
French, whose multi-Christmas-dinner eating antics on The Vicar Of Dibley put her into the Xmas annals, is transformed into “the quintessential hostess” with a bit of help from her little friend.
Banking on the idea that you can never have enough of a good thing, there are six instalments of the advert running between now and the New Year. Who doesn’t like a second – or sixth – helping.
Lidl
This one pulls on the heartstrings, with a little girl inspired to give a gift to a boy who appears not to have any, after an old lady gives her some magic bells.
Pic: Lidl
Directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Tom Hooper (he directed The King’s Speech), a CGI racoon and giant gingerbread man add a little action to events around the dinner table.
But the take home message is to think about giving as well as receiving, with the return of the retailer’s toy banks scheme set up at supermarkets with the aim of donating over 100,000 toys, to ensure no child experiences a giftless Christmas.
Aldi
Kevin the Carrot is back for a ninth year running, this time trying to save the Christmas spirit from a bunch of hard-boiled humbug villains.
Pic: Aldi
With the ad narrated by actor Jim Broadbent, our plucky hero braves an oven, a Mission Impossible-inspired ventilation system and Bond-esque snow jet-ski dash across the mountains, all to save Christmas.
Helped by his wife Katie, he of course pulls it off. A fan favourite, soft toys of the root vegetable are sold in stores, and this year cuddly humbugs are on sale too.
Morrisons
It’s a song and dance number from Morrisons, courtesy of their singing oven gloves performing Bugsy Malone’s You Give A Little Love.
Pic: Morrisons
A choir of 26 Morrisons employees gave voice to the gloves, recording their rendition of the song at the iconic Abbey Road Studios in London.
Like Lidl, the retailer pulled out the directing big guns, hiring The Greatest Showman director Michael Gracey to oversee proceedings.
Asda
Bagging the prize for the most gnome puns in one advert, Asda sees a flash mob of gnomes preparing the store for Christmas.
Pic: Asda
The resulting advert isn’t as irritating as it sounds on paper, thanks to nice performances by the two human characters in the ad – Maggie and Bill.
And as we know, Christmas is all about the merchandise, so the supermarkets are of course selling special Xmas versions of their garden gnomes to accompany their already 50-strong gnome range. Who knew?
Tesco
Tesco reminds us of those members of the family who are no longer here to join us on the big day, with a man carrying on his late grandmother’s festive tradition of baking gingerbread.
Pic: Tesco
He becomes obsessed with the spicy treat, as it infiltrates every part of his day from his haircut to a trip to see the Christmas lights.
He eventually gets together with his grandad to bake a gingerbread house, revealing it to the family at lunch, thus keeping the tradition alive.
Greggs
And in the most unlikely festive cameo of the year, Greggs has enlisted Nigella Lawson to star in its first Christmas ad.
Pic: PA
Rapturously endorsing their festive bakes, Lawson has her hands full of pasties, and her table full of take-away coffees, as she promotes the bakery’s festive-themed fare.
Whether or not you believe the 64-year-old TV chef really tucks into their sausage rolls in real life – the attention-grabbing collaboration looks like a wise move for the chain, whose sales have jumped in recent weeks as it continues its UK expansion.
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