The Visionaries Behind 
Yogis of Ukraine

Bob Degus is a film director, producer, screenwriter, and author. A long-time member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, he’s served as a Gold Rising mentor and Oscar voter, with a career spanning more than 25 years and over a quarter- billion dollars in film production.

 

What many don’t know is that Bob’s creative path was shaped by a traumatic childhood and a life altering brain injury that left him temporarily paralyzed and unable to speak. Relearning how to walk and talk—while navigating the instability of frequent moves due to his father's alcoholism gave him a deep resilience and a lens of curiosity toward the world.

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While the impetus to film began with yoga, the experience of shooting without language comprehension revealed a deeper message - one that only emerged after translation and frames the film's existential arc. 

 

His filmmaking career includes producing the Oscar-nominated Pleasantville and two Academy Award-nominated shorts, as well as serving as a production executive at New Line Cinema on Austin Powers, Set It Off, and more than 25 other films.

 

A lifelong seeker, Bob’s travels have taken him from the remote Amazonian jungles—where he studied Ayahuasca with Peruvian shamans—to the Himalayas, where he lived with monks in Bhutan. Most recently, he explored war-torn Ukraine to capture stories of healing through yoga. Across it all, he continues to walk a spiritual path that honors the simple truth: we are all one.

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📽️ Read more: bobdegus.com

Alexandra Angélique Leeper is the founder of Living Light Productions, a film, TV, and theatre production company dedicated to raising human consciousness and creating positive change through storytelling.

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With a 20+ year background in exploring various spiritual lineages—most notably Kundalini Yoga, Jivamukti Yoga, and meditation—Alexandra’s creative work is deeply intertwined with her personal journey. She embraces the awareness that darkness and light are both essential parts of the same path, a philosophy that shapes the stories she brings to life.

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Since 2009, she has been a lead producer of original content, working alongside Hollywood director/writer/producer Bob Degus (Pleasantville, Austin Powers). With multiple films in various stages of development, Alexandra continues to bring compelling, socially conscious projects to the screen.

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📽️ Read more at: AlexandraAngelique.com

Christine Andrew is a conscious creator and producer devoted to sharing stories that

expand collective awareness and amplify voices of resilience, inner wisdom, and spiritual

truth.

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Her earlier work includes producing and hosting radio shows and podcasts centered on spirituality and higher consciousness, where she held space for meaningful dialogue with teachers, visionaries and everyday seekers. She also led a media company dedicated to health, wellness, and spiritual evolution, overseeing a podcast network and print publications that supported healthy living and soul-centered growth. Through all her work, she aims to illuminate the possibilities that emerge when we listen deeply – to ourselves, to one

another, and to the stories that connect us all.

Sandrine Rudaz is a Swiss-French film composer and conductor based in Los Angeles, specializing in film, video game, and theatre scoring. 

 

One of the rare female film composers who also conducts, Sandrine brings a unique voice to the industry, crafting distinct, emotionally resonant soundscapes that blend European classical training with American film music education.

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Her work has earned her a Jerry Goldsmith Award nomination and two Hollywood Music in Media Awards. Her score for the HBO dramatic film “A” for Alpha" won Best Original Score at the Garden State Film Festival.

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Sandrine has worked on more than 30 films, composing and conducting music for full orchestras, intimate solo performances, and everything in between—a distinction few female composers achieve in the film industry.

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🎵 Read more at: SandrineRudaz.com

Adelyn Jones is a visionary producer dedicated to supporting and amplifying the voices of those who embody our highest truth—that we are Divine Beings, interconnected with one another and the Creator through love.

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For Yogis of Ukraine, Adelyn champions the story of women who are not just survivors, but world leaders in the emergence of a New Human Consciousness.

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Her previous work includes serving as Producer and Host of acclaimed interview series, including One on One, InsideOut, and The Frequency of Love, where she explored the depths of human potential, spirituality, and transformation.

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Through her work, Adelyn is committed to elevating projects that inspire, awaken, and expand global consciousness.

Allyson Stivers is a psychotherapist in Woodinville, WA. Allyson works with people who have experienced all levels of trauma. Through her deep understanding of the science and the soul in the healing process, Allyson practices a multi-modality approach to heal and transform the difficult and traumatic events one can experience in life. Allyson is amazed at the Yogis use of active healing and cognitive reframing with higher consciousness energy to help heal the trauma and energy of war.

 

Greg has dedicated the past 30 years building and scaling commercial go-to-market teams at successful companies such as ADP, SAP Concur, Avalara, and Versapay.

 

Together, Allyson and Greg are on their own journey of spiritual growth and development. They have found inspiration from the Yogis of Ukraine, who demonstrate how to embrace the present moment and accept reality as it is and who turn fear into love. 

Lorie-Lanie Shanks is a multifaceted producer, actress, and voice artist with a background in theatre, film, singing, and voice-over work. Driven by her love of performing and a deep desire to make a difference, she has dedicated her career to storytelling that inspires and uplifts.

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Her artistic journey is intertwined with her spiritual path, drawing from Kundalini yoga and Buddhist teachings, which bring mindfulness and depth to her creative work. Her perspective on filmmaking evolved when she discovered Alexandra Angélique Leeper’s vision for Living Light Productions, inspiring her to use film as a platform for raising consciousness and creating positive change.

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Her journey is a testament to her creativity, dedication, and passion for using the arts as a force for good in the world.

Michele McGuire is an Oscar-nominated film producer, award-winning screenwriter, and two-time Cable-ACE nominee. She wrote the award-winning screenplay and produced the indie feature film Awaken (2022).

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Michele has produced the directorial debuts of Kathleen Turner and JoBeth Williams, as well as projects for acclaimed writers Lynn Mamet, Chris Gerolmo, and Garry Marshall. She was an early producing consultant on Yogis of Ukraine, lending her expertise to the project in its initial stages.

The film is honored to feature Tina Guo as a solo cellist, whose powerful and lyrical performance gives voice to the emotional depth at the heart of the score.

 

GRAMMY and BRIT Female Artist of the Year nominee Tina Guo is known for her genre-fluidity as a virtuoso cellist, multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, composer, and entrepreneur.

One of the most recorded solo cellists of all time in Film, TV, and Game Soundtracks, Tina’s recent projects include F1, DUNE, DUNE 2, Gran Turismo, Top Gun: Maverick, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. Tina co-composed the Main Theme for Wonder Woman with Hans Zimmer.

 

As a classical soloist, Tina has performed with the San Diego Symphony, the State of Mexico National Symphony, the Thessaloniki State Symphony in Greece, the Petrobras Symphony in Brazil, and the Vancouver Island Symphony. She has collaborated with violinist Midori Goto and completed four national tours of Mexico and Italy, performing the Shostakovich, Dvorak, Haydn, and Saint-Saëns Cello Concertos. Tina recently performed as soloist at the Vatican for Concerto con I Poveri, a charity concert with the Choir of the Diocese of Rome and the Nova Opera Orchestra.

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​Tina's musical education began at the age of 3 on the piano in Shanghai, China. After coming to America at 5, she began violin lessons with her mother and cello under her father's instruction, Lu-Yan Guo, at 7. Tina attended the University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music, studying classical cello performance with Eleonore Schoenfeld.

We are privileged to have Luanne Homzy lend her artistry to the score, her violin carrying the film’s intimacy and quiet intensity.

 

Internationally acclaimed American/French-Canadian violinist Luanne Homzy is highly sought-after for her technical facility, sensitive musicality and expansive versatility.

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First Prize winner of the International Chamber Music Competition Hamburg in 2009 with the Saguaro Piano, and of the Canadian Music Competition, she has performed concerti with orchestras such as the Montréal Symphony Orchestra, the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra and the Colburn Chamber Orchestra. Having served as concertmaster for the Colburn Orchestra, the American Youth Orchestra and the National Youth Orchestra of Canada, she has worked closely with masters such as Sir Neville Mariner, Gustavo Dudamel, James Conlon, Kent Nagano, and John Williams.

 

She has played for audiences in Germany, France, Italy, New Zealand, Australia, Venezuela, Colombia, Argentina, the USA, Canada, Korea, and Japan. She has recorded an album with the Saguaro Trio on Fontenay Classics, and performed in live solo recitals and studio sessions for Radio-Canada and NPR.

German vocalist Julie Elven lends her evocative voice to the score, weaving a haunting melodic presence through the film’s emotional arc.

 

Julie Elven is a soundtrack vocalist, concert soloist and musician based in Munich, Germany.

She has been a soloist for Hollywood composers James Newton Howard, Lorne Balfe and Andrew Kawczynski, as well as for Hans Zimmer’s scoring company Bleeding Fingers Music. She is a featured solo vocalist on the BAFTA award winning video games Horizon Forbidden West, Astro Bot and League of Legends, as well as the vocalist of the BAFTA nominated Horizon Zero Dawn soundtrack and the award winning video game World of Warcraft.

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Julie was invited into the Recording Academy as a GRAMMY voting member in 2023, and served as music jury member at the BAFTA Games Awards in 2024.

Ukrainian bandura virtuoso Tetiana Mazur brings the voice of her homeland into the score, grounding the film’s sound in an instrument central to Ukraine’s cultural identity.

 

Tetiana Mazur is an accomplished Ukrainian bandura musician whose artistry brings the voice of Ukraine’s national instrument into contemporary musical expression. Based in Kyiv, Tetiana has built a reputation for blending traditional technique with modern creativity, sharing her music through popular performances and recordings of both Ukrainian folk and instrumental repertoire, including virtuosic interpretations of well-known works on the bandura. Her contributions help bridge cultural heritage and cinematic score, bringing depth and resonance to the film’s sound.

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Grammy-winning music mixer Eva Reistad shapes the sonic landscape of the film, ensuring the score’s emotional nuance resonates with clarity and depth.

 

Eva Reistad is a Grammy-winning audio engineer recognized for her range of work across all genres of music (An Adoption Story), film (Naked Gun, Planet Earth, Alien, Dune), and live sound (Hans Zimmer). Eva has engineered for acclaimed artists and engineers on projects that push creative and technical boundaries, earning a reputation for her knowledge of different audio platforms, thoughtful collaboration, and attentive ear. Beyond the studio, she is a passionate advocate for inclusion and mentorship in the audio industry, regularly speaking on panels about the industry, career growth, and the evolving role of women in sound. Whether behind the console or in front of an audience, Eva brings an authentic, inspiring voice to the craft of engineering and the art of listening.