International LGBT film festival opens in Moscow

International LGBT film festival Side By Side opened yesterday in Moscow with a screening of Dutch film Matterhorn, followed by a Q&A with the director. This is the festival’s third year in Moscow showing a number of LGBT-themed features, documentaries and short films from around the world, as well as holding panel discussions. With participants including former winners at the Moscow and Berlin international film festivals, Side By Side brings in the international film community to try to tackle some of the most difficult issues facing the LGBT community today.

Speaking to The Calvert Journal, Side By Side’s director Manny de Guerre discussed the challenges that the festival has encountered. She said: “In the early years in St Petersburg and then in Kemerovo, Archangelsk and Tomsk, it was the authorities themselves who threatened the venues not to support the festival. More recently, threats of physical violence and protests by nationalists and Orthodox religious groups have caused disruptions. Last year in St Petersburg we had five bomb hoax phone calls during the festival.”

Among the line up this year is Iranian film Facing Mirror, the first narrative film from Iran to feature a transgender protagonist, and Polish drama In the name of which explores the suppression of homosexual feelings by a Catholic priest. The documentary category comprises a number of films detailing the highs and lows of events in the LGBT community in the last few decades, including films Valentine Road, an American 2013 film about the shooting of transgender high school student Latisha “Larry” King and Lesbiana: A Parallel Revolution.

Since the introduction of the “gay propaganda” law in Russia last year, a number of LGBT organisations have faced threats, and Side By Side is no exception, with the festival taken to court for not registering as a foreign agent, eventually cleared of charges after their third appeal. De Guerre said: “Since this law was implemented, the law has given the green light to opponents and they feel at liberty to stop the festival in any way they like. Making hoax calls is a criminal offence but the police have not followed through with investigations. It’s a real problem for us.”

Side By Side is based in St Petersburg and has screened films in cities across Russia since 2008. This year’s festival will run until 27 April.