Olga Sidorina Wilkins is a Ukrainian writer and screenwriter. “Gimme Shelter” marks her first screenwriting experience. In 2025, she wrote her debut novel “Gimme Shelter”, signed by the prominent Ukrainian publishing house Хто Це? and released in December 2025. She holds a Master’s degree in Philology and actively advocates for diversity, inclusion, and veterans’ reintegration in Ukrainian business, a background that deeply informs her interest in language, identity, and emotional storytelling across different forms of writing.
PROJECT
Gimme Shelter
Kyiv, 2014. During the Revolution of Dignity, Vira checks lists of those killed on Maidan for Andriy’s name and is relieved not to find it. They meet at Gimme Shelter, bar where they first met in 2011. Vira confronts Andriy about his girlfriend in Russia; he jabs her for having married someone else. The attraction returns. They move between memories and a present defined by choices: Vira has joined protesters her abusive father despises; Andriy has left Russia for Maidan. In the past, Vira unconsciously repeats her father’s pattern, testing how far Andriy will follow her; he reads it as acceptance. Their relationship collapses. Married and lonely in Berlin, Vira returns to him. Andriy tries to reverse their hierarchy, but her physical compliance leaves her emotionally unreachable. In 2014, Andriy finally admits he searched for Vira’s name too. They acknowledge their importance to each other and offer the acceptance they could not give before. At dawn, they walk in opposite directions.
