Meet Katerina Leva | Filmmaker, Actress, Businesswoman

We had the good fortune of connecting with Katerina Leva and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Katerina, what role has risk played in your life or career?
There is a great quote that literally translates to “who doesn’t risk, doesn’t drink champagne,” and the closest English equivalent would be “nothing ventured, nothing gained.” This motto belongs to Madame Nicole Clicquot, who 1798 successfully married a promising but not wealthy winemaker from the Champagne region. In 1805, Nicole’s husband passed away suddenly. The widow had to tend to the vineyards alone. The wine business captivated Widow Clicquot so much that she decided to improve the process of making sparkling wine by eliminating the sediment from champagne. However, the new technology had a side effect. The fermenting grape wine often greeted anyone who descended into the cellar with explosions. So, every visit to a basement could have been risky. Thus, the expression “who doesn’t risk, doesn’t drink champagne” came into being.

I truly live by this motto. I was always courageous and doing something that no one else had the guts to do. Did it always have a positive outcome? Hell, no! The first business I opened, a small video production for influencers, closed in 3 months. The second one closed in one. However, the third one, a school of applied psychology, was a huge success and still operates and helps its students. That’s why I took a risk to come to LA in 2022 to pursue a film career. Right now, I am taking another risk of producing a film about the war in Ukraine called “Pravda Means the Truth,” which will most probably put me in jail in 2 countries due to the political opinions discussed in this film.

But I am still taking the risk. Because if you don’t, you will never know. Not taking the risk will put you in the same situation that you are in right now. Taking the risk will either make you conquer the world or fall as its victim. But any outcome is better than stagnation.

Wow, that was really pretentious, ahah! Anyways, guys, just take risks. The worst thing that can happen is death, and death is inevitable, so why be unnecessarily cautious?

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I was born in Ukraine to an actress and entrepreneur family 25 years ago. Like all children, I went to school, had extracurricular activities, and was happy. There was only one thing about me that was different. I was obsessed with films and the idea of making them. Of course, back then, I didn’t know how hard it actually was, but the urge was unstoppable.

I grew up. Life has become less easy, as it usually is for everyone. My mom said that it was impossible to make it in Hollywood as a Ukrainian girl who nobody knew. My dad said it was a stupid decision and I would outgrow it. And I did, or maybe I was forced to outgrow it since no one believed in me.

I moved to Moscow with my mom when I was 15. I finished school and graduated with an International Relations degree. I felt lost. I opened a business because I didn’t want to work in an office. I liked it. The businesses were going good (some of them), but I still felt like I was missing something. Then the war started.

I will never forget the feeling of emptiness, fear and guilt combining into the understanding that the predictable world I knew, a world where you could just live, love, work, and build your life step by step, is gone forever. My family was under attacks initiated by a country that I was currently in. For a week, I couldn’t move. I was laying in bed and thinking.

Then I had an epiphany. Life is too fragile and short not to try something that you have been dreaming of since you were a child. As the world was being destroyed, I decided to build a new one.

I took a risk. I closed the business and moved to LA, knowing nothing about films.

Today, I am still going. I have written, directed, and produced short films “Sin and Redemption” and “I Dare You to Live,” I shot “Shit, I am Dreaming,” “Shway In and Shway Out,” Prince Caspian: Chronicles of a Lost Recluse’ and others. `I played in bunch of shorts like “Earthquake” and “Sin and Redemption”. I am working on making my first feature film about the war in Ukraine.

In my feature film, I want to tell a story about real people who right now survive under the attacks of missiles and also people on the other side who are drowned in quilt by actions they didn’t do. I want to paint a real world of real people for those who don’t quite understand how it feels to live like this. This is a job I am most passionate about, because this is not only art, it is the essence of life.

If you ask me what sets me apart from other people, I will say that I think we are all the same. People are more similar to each other than we realise, and there is only one thing that maybe sets me apart. And this thing is never giving up. Keep going despite any problems, failures, and bumps on the road. Your parents are against you? Keep going! Your homeland is being bombed? Keep going! You just can’t give up because what’s the alternative? Nothing?

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I would take them to Disney Land. Sorry for being so basic, but the recently opened new ride in Star Wars zone called “The Resistance” just blew my mind off.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Every human being I have ever met in my life, regardless of whether it was a childhood friend or a person I once got drunk with in a random bar somewhere in Berlin, deserves a shoutout from me. All of them shaped me bit by bit into who I am and they keep doing it till this day. People are my biggest inspiration, and I want to thank every one of them for how I see this world.

All of the films, short stories, and books I have ever written were about people, about their complexity and depth. So, if you are a human and you are reading it, thank you.

Of course, I will have to thank my parents separately. They are very complicated human beings and even though they still do not approve of my life choices, they are very supportive.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kataaleva/?img_index=1

Image Credits
I Dare You to Live
Earthquake
Sin and Redemption
Shit, I am Dreaming