#PrideMonth at NERD is a special time when we reflect on our efforts to represent LGBTQIA2S+ community throughout the year 🌈 ! Our goal is to keep increasing awareness of the community, its history and identity. We are proud to represent LGBTQIA2S+ talent and spread the word about everything they do 🏳️‍🌈. This year we will be sharing a brand new series of posts called ‘NERD’s Queer Artists on What Pride Means to Them’ updated every Wednesday till the end of June!

Ira Giorgetti

Pride month is a time when people from all creeds, backgrounds and beliefs come together to uplift one another and celebrate the things we all hold in common. It’s a time of gratitude, of love, of peace and of hope. A time to unite and appreciate how far we’ve come in our fight for a more equal, diverse, inclusive and representative world.

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I find Pride month is a great time to reflect on my work and how it relates to, engages with and enriches the lives of others in the community. Alongside my commercial work I love to collaborate with other queer artists and discover the interesting truths and stories people in the community have got to share. My personal project in development titled ‘Transmigration’ was inspired by all the brave and amazing queer folk I’ve crossed paths with and gotten to know over the last couple of years, many of whom I met at Pride!

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It’s important for LGBTQIA2S+ people to celebrate their individuality, spirit and history as well as an opportunity for the entire community to come together and unashamedly be who they truly are. Celebrating Pride and diversity and the spectrum of sexuality gives everyone an opportunity to expand their thinking and grow more accepting of the people they share their cities with. It’s also a great time to just have fun and uplift those around you, some of whom may be going through more than they let on.

Ira is a London-based creative producer and photographer at NERD Productions. See more from Ira here.

Roman Bratschi

Pride means to me to be who you are and do whatever you want without living in fear or shame! I’m grateful to live my life as I want and always have the support of my friends and family.

Roman is a 3D Illustrator and Animation Director. See more from Roman here.

Shay Hamias

With pride month being taken over by commercial companies in recent years, it has lost its origins of speaking truth to power, and I feel less represented by it.

When I was asked to write about what pride month means to me, I wasn’t sure what to say. NERD, led by Milana, is truly all about diversity.
I am proud to work for a company that facilitates diversity and inclusion across race, gender and sexual identity throughout all of its projects. I am proud that I get to collaborate with people from a range of diverse backgrounds, and I’m proud that it’s done all year round, not just one month of the year.

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Shay is an award-winning Animation Director and mentor at NERD. See more from Shay here.

James Gifford

For me, Pride is about love and acceptance no matter your identity. Pride welcomes anyone who’s ever been made to feel out-of-place or ashamed of who they are. I don’t think self-love should ever be quiet or hidden away, but rather celebrated loudly, proudly, and with open arms.

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James is an Illustrator at NERD. See more from James here.

Ian Clarke

Visibility matters. Pride started as a protest, and that protest later became a celebration of all things LGBTQI+. People were initially quite uncomfortable seeing gay people proudly parading themselves on the streets, and refusing to apologise for being themselves. London in 2021 is a fantastic place to be a gay man, I am married to the person I love and society’s recognition of that union means everything.

However attacks against LGBTQI+ in the UK are on the rise again. In other less tolerant countries Pride parades are violently dissolved, with assistance from local police forces. Trans people face discrimination and the threat of violence on a daily basis. You see, although, some of us have legal protection and acceptance from society, many more struggle to be their authentic selves every single day.
Visibility matters. Pride should always remain a loud and proud protest.

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Ian is an award-winning Animation Director. See more from Ian here.

As Pride month comes to end, we would like to remind that inclusivity and LGBTQA2S+ rights should be a priority during the whole year, both in your day-to-day life and in the workplace.

This calming film by our Shona Auerbach was one of the projects this year that has brought the sense of normality and joy to everyone on set and in production!

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Many mums would agree with us that breastfeeding can sometimes be exhausting. This is where Medela takes over and you can have more time to enjoy a few moments doing what you desire with your little one!

This was a project shot mid-COVID featuring REAL new mums, real people! It was important to bring a sense of confidence and comfort to the set.

Let’s see how Shona pulled it off:

To be honest, I hardly noticed the restrictions other than wearing masks. I often work with the same crew, we are a good team together, we like each other and that makes a big difference. The team I didn’t know was the agency. We had done several Zoom calls beforehand so I felt like we had spent some time together. That helped us, and I think we worked well together.

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Our Founder & Executive Producer Milana Karaica also adds:

We had to capture that very special & delicate bond between a new mother and her precious little baby, now try doing that during a global pandemic. Our task was even more challenging by the fact that we wanted to capture these special moments by real mums and babies, not actors. As a new mum, myself to a 5 month old baby girl, at the time, I knew exactly how anxious mums can be and what our mums were going through during these unfamiliar times.
This is why I knew Shona was the right person for the job! If we were to get our mums to relax, trust and open up to us so we can be let in on those intimate nuggets, we needed a director that would make the set feel safe and mums looked after.

IMG 3292 - NERD Blog - Discovering ‘Medela’, directed by Shona Auerbach. — *Click the image to play.*

It is such a calming and relaxing film, Shona was working with little angels this time, while previously directing professional actors like Gerald Butler in her feature films.

How different was it this time for Shona?

I think the babies in Medela were great, but it helped because they were with their mothers most of the time, so they didn’t really notice whether we were filming or not. Filming non-actors is always different and working with children is another type of direction too, so you have to approach it with a more captured attitude.

Pre-filming, I have ideas in my head on how I would like it to play out but inevitably working with children allows some spontaneity. They are too young to direct in a formal sense and therefore I try to guide them in a direction but I am open-minded that they may give me any number of alternative moments which I have to then adapt to. Although I may be aiming for a particular vision, it may not always be possible because they are not actors, therefore I try to create a space where they can feel as comfortable as possible, allowing me to capture moments.
Working with actors is different again, I can have an image in my head and how I would like it to play out and with the help of the actor, I can go all out to make that happen. All these options work for me, and ultimately in the end I am looking for the most natural performances, they are just different techniques of getting it.

Enjoy the film and see more from Shona here.