On the 16 September 2025, Moira McVean, Nick Peter Yee, and Kadijha Kamara of the Film London Skills Team, welcomed current and former Film London Connect mentees and mentors, to celebrate the achievements of cohort 3.

Held at The Garden Cinema’s new Atrium Bar, DP, Sofia Soto and Artist, Tanya Dennett Brown, kindly reflected on their mentee experiences, on the panel.

Open discussions about challenges in entering the industry were raised, such as how to navigate offers of unpaid work. Sofia, however, reflected on how she is now in a position to talk rates with an employer, and budgets for a professional camera. “You’re a DP now. You should call yourself a DP,” is how Sofia fondly remembered these words of encouragement towards her, from Mentor, Cinematographer, Felix Schmilinsky. Their mentorship provided a chance for Sofia to discuss lighting plans with Felix and widen her network. On the same day as the celebration event, the pair had even worked together on set!

Meanwhile, Tanya realised that as a “writer [she] really wants to be involved in the production process.” Mentored by Producer, Freelance Director/Editor, Riccardo Servini, Tanya was inspired by the intentional way in which he worked in documentaries. Originally from a theatre background, Tanya is now producing a test pilot for a TV show. She shared a wise outlook with the audience on how, “You need a lot of good failures to spur you on, to then getting eventual success.”

Perhaps what drew Rico and Felix to mentoring, was how they’d been guided in the industry, when starting themselves. Rico praised his first official mentor for leading him to direct his debut feature film; and Felix remembered interviewing a DP for a university assignment, who invited him to watch a grading session of the feature film, Harry Brown, starring Sir Michael Caine.

The night ended with Daria Svitailo, from the first cohort, sharing how she had recently started working as a Sustainability Assistant on a big budget studio shoot.

The Skills team would like to thank Unit Stills Photographer, Joe Collins - also a mentee from Cohort 3 - who took these lovely pictures on the night. Additionally, it was a pleasure working with Célia Diagana, Marloes Koot, and Ryan Bellett of The Garden Cinema, who helped in delivering a warm and accessible environment, for all to network.