Ukrainian Queer Shorts on Jugendfilmtage IFF
Ukrainian LGBTQ films will be represented on Schweizer Jugendfilmtage International Film Festival.
The program Breaking through Silence – Ukrainian Queer Shorts was combined by Kyiv IFF Molodist' program coordinator Bohdan Zhuk.
Films:
I HAVE A FRIEND / «У мене є друг»
Director: Dmytro Moiseyev
Fiction / 2009 / 29' / Ukraine
EXARCH / «Екзарх»
Director: Nadia Parfan, Maria Stoianova
Documentary / 2014 / 10' / Ukraine
KITTENS / «Котики»
Director: Zhanna Ozirna
Documentary / 2017 / 9' / Ukraine
AFTERTASTE / «Післясмак»
Director: Yura Katynskyi
Fiction / 2017 / 19' / Ukraine
«LGBTQ» is one of the most provocative and sensitive words in Ukraine these days. It becomes a litmus test for progressive or antiquated views, sparks discussions all over social media, while essentially remaining taboo in one-on-one conversations. Conservatism, religion, media propaganda (largely from Russia) over decades have constructed an image of a feathery and glittery effeminate gay man feared or despised by Ukrainians - the majority of which haven’t actually met an LGBTQ person or at least don’t know about it. While there is progress with visibility - thanks to events such as KyivPride and Equality March, and in particular the Sunny Bunny programme at the Molodist festival which shows LGBTQ-themed films to a large audience since 2001 - we need much more of it. There are few openly LGBTQ public personalities - be it on television, show business, or politics, while numerous gays and lesbians choose to stay in the closet. Thus, a popular misconception remains that homosexuality is imposed by Western culture. And it becomes a somewhat heroic (and all the while provocative) deed to make a film with a queer subject. There is still no ‘queer’ cinema in Ukraine, and few filmmakers would identify as queer - so every small film becomes an event for the community. While there have only been shorts tackling LGBTQ-subjects, a few features are coming to screens soon.
In this programme, we offer 3 recent short films as well as one that offers a bit of a retrospective look - both on Ukrainian cinema a decade ago, and on the social context of LGBTQ persons in that time.
Bohdan Zhuk, programmer of Kyiv IFF Molodist
Date: March, 15
More details here