LGBT film festival opens in Moscow tomorrow

The Side by Side LGBT Festival opens in Moscow tomorrow at a time of ongoing debate about gay rights in Russia. The second edition of the festival will feature 17 films including acclaimed international features such as Weekend (UK, 2011), Tomboy (France, 2011) and Beauty (South Africa, 2011) alongside a series of documentaries and shorts, three of which are from Russia.

Side by Side was launched in 2008 in St Petersburg where city lawmakers passed a bill that bans “gay propaganda among minors” in March this year. The legislation has prompted a wider debate on gay rights with calls for the St Petersburg law to be enshrined at a national level. Organisers of the first festival were forced to hold screenings in secret venues and in foreign embassies after a number of participating cinemas were closed down by fire inspectors just days before the opening.

Since then, the festival has been held in a number of cities across Russia including Tomsk, Novosibirsk, Archangel and Kemerovo. The festival took place in Moscow for the first time last year where it was picketed daily by religious activists wearing t-shirts with slogans such as “Orthodoxy or Death” and “Perverts get out of Russia”. In a statement on their website, the festival’s organisers wrote: “Police were present and were in full control of the situation, providing necessary security. Will the police and authorities abide by their duties and protect law abiding citizens or as they have done so many times before or opt to support extremist elements who threaten life and both democratic values?”

The festival has received widespread support from well-known international figures in the film industry including Pedro Almodovar, Alexander Sokurov, Stephen Fry, Ken Loach, Mike Leigh, Sir Ian McKellen and Gus Van Sant. In a show of support in 2010, Loach told the festival organisers: “You are making a brave stand on an important principle: no discrimination on the basis of gender or sexuality. Prejudice comes from ignorance. You are helping dispel that. With warmest good wishes.”