International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival «Side by Side»
Encyclopedia
«Side by Side» Lesbian and Gay International Film Festival («Bok o Bok») is an international film festival
that seeks to explore the issues of homosexuality
, bisexuality
and transgender
(LGBT
) through art cinema. Since 2008 it has taken place every autumn in St. Petersburg. Furthermore, various special events are held almost every month, and since 2009 screenings have been conducted also in other regions in Russia
.
The film festival aims to establish an open cultural space in which Russian society and the LGBT community can enter into a broad discussion, and generate a positive dialogue, thus contributing to the struggle against discrimination
based on sex
, gender identity
and sexual orientation
. In addition, the festival offers a space where homosexual and transgendered persons can feel comfortable with themselves and affirm, question and extend their identities. The slogan of the film forum is “Different love, equal rights”.
The film festival was founded by Manny de Guerre. Gulya Sultanova works is the festival director and Tanya Shmankevich is the project manager of the festival.
came to very little by mid-90s. By the 21st century, neither a human rights movement nor a LGBT community as a group of people, united by common values and conscious of the shared cultural and historical fate, had been formed. Started in 2006, the Gay Pride Movement
strengthened the disagreements between different LGBT groups and with society at large. Moreover, it did not pursue the goal of establishing a cultural space.
At that time LGBT culture was developing fast in the West, also in the area of art cinema. In 1977, the first LGBT- film festival Frameline was held in San Francisco. Ten years later in 1987, a special LGBT film award
was created at the Berlin International Film Festival
. Over time, LGBT film forums have become an integral part of cultural life in Western societies. A great number of festivals, visited by thousands of people, run every year, and the most prestigious of them have their own gay award.
Side by Side Film Festival emerged, on the one hand, in the wake of the world-wide traditions, and on the other, as a response to the urgent needs of the Russian LGBT community. The organizers strived to create an open cultural space for the self-development and reflection of the LGBT community while at the same time exposing the problems of the LGBT community known to the general public by building a positive dialogue between the minority and the majority, deconstructing myths and stereotypes, helping to change the public opinion and develop understanding, acceptance and tolerance. According to the organizers this is one of the ways to overcome hate, discrimination and violence towards LGBT people.
The festival program consists of three main sections, all of them with corresponding awards: feature, documentary and short film. Films are selected from the previous season’s film forums and through application process. The non-competition program includes a variety of events: unique retrospective screenings, exhibitions, photo competitions, book presentations, concerts, workshops etc. The screenings are usually followed by a discussion or lecture to reflect issues raised by the film and to discuss how they are projected in contemporary Russian society. Every event hosts special guests, well-known international and Russian experts in the field of art, sociology, psychology or human rights. They form a jury which selects the award winners in all three categories. The festival visitors can also vote for their own favorite for the Audience Award.
The film festival actively seeks to attract volunteers during events. Over the years the film festival has been supported by the Berlin International Film Festival
’s Teddy Award, Kyiv International Film Festival Molodist, Goethe-Institut
, the Danish Cultural Institute
, the Swedish Film Institute
, Heinrich Böll Foundation
, Time Out journal, among others.
Director Alexandr Sokurov, rock musician Svetlana Surganova
, sociologist Igor Kon
, poet Marina Chen, actor Anatolij Ravikovich, human rights defender Sergey Grigoryants, politician Valeriya Novodvorskaya, British novelist Sarah Waters
, British human rights defender Peter Tatchell
, Israeli producer Eytan Fox
, Israeli producer Gal Uchovsky, American producer John Cameron Mitchell
, and LGBT-activist Nikolay Alexeyev gave their support to the film festival. Berlin International Film Festival
, NewFest: New York Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender Film Festival
, and Kyiv International Film Festival Molodist officially supported «Side by Side» Film Festival.
Representatives of The International Association of Cinematographers of Slavic and Orthodox People, actors Nikolai Burlyayev
and Mikhail Porechenkov
, producer Mark Rudinshtein, artist Oleg Basilashvili
, director Yevgeniy Tatarskiy, head of the press service of the Russian Orthodox Church
Mihail Moiseyev, and the head of the city committee for culture Nikolay Burov were against the film festival.
In February 2008, Dom Kino cinema, the planned venue for the screenings, terminated the preliminary agreement with the festival organizers due to “building repairs”. However, as it turned out later, the movie hall was never closed during the period. In September 2008, already after the beginning of ticket sale, PIK cinema under pressure from authorities terminated the contract without explanations. At the same time the police were conducting spot-checks at Bunker and Central Station gay clubs, during which the visitors were insulted, humiliated, and blackmailed. In October 2008, the new venues that had been found (clubs Sochi and The Palace) were closed on the eve of the festival for two weeks by fire inspections. However, right after refusing to host the event they were allowed to carry on working.
After these events, civil youth movements Oborona
and LGBT-organization Coming Out sent an open letter to the governor of Saint Petersburg Valentina Matviyenko
demanding her to comment on the situation. Famous St. Petersburg artists Gljuklja and Caplja also expressed their support. After hearing about the closure of the festival, they changed their programme at Dom Kino and screened a film about transgender boys Komnata Viki i Zheni. Furthermore, referring to the German reformer Martin Luther
, a student group performed an action called Reformation at the Committee for Culture of Saint Petersburg.
As a result, the film festival took place ‘underground’ in a secret venue from 4th to 5th October 2008. In the course of two days art and documentary films were screened, including a panorama of Berlin International Film Festival short movie award winners. The screenings were followed by discussions in which the festival guests director John Cameron Mitchell, Rodney Swell , Maxim Zirin, representatives of the Berlin International Film Festival’s Teddy Award Klaus Ascheneller and New Fest Director Basil Tsiokos, and Russian transgender Julietta among others participated. In addition, there was a photo competition (Love in pink and blue measurement), Lida Mihailovaya’s photo project: “I am lesbian. Do people around me know about it?” and Alexander Nizovskiy’s “Drag Queens Show.”
The competition program consisted of eight feature, eight documentary and twenty-three short films, including Oscar
, Cannes Film Festival
and Berlin International Film Festival
award winners. Among them there was one Russian documentary tape and one Kazakhstan short film.
In September 2009, the director of the festival Gjulnara Sultanova together with the representative for the Russian LGBT Network Igor Kochetkovyi had a meeting with Igor Mihailov, Human Rights Ombudsman in Saint Petersburg who granted his support for them.
In addition, educational brochures about coming out (How to tell? and How to understand?) and Parenthood. Transgender. Religion were released.
In summer, 2009 Side by Side was invited to participate in Festival of Festivals. Under pressure, the administration of cinema Rodina refused to conduct the screening. However, the cinema Dom kino accepted to show the film with the condition that the LGBT film festival would not be mentioned.
and discrimination
, the history of the LGBT-community, coming out
, same-sex marriage
, children with same-sex parents, problems of elderly LGBT people, transgender myths and reality, masculinity in contemporary society, religion and sexuality, among others. Sociologist Igor Kon
, psychotherapist Dmitriy Isaev, LGBT activist Igor Kochetkov, artist Ivan Chechot, German activist Mahide Lein, HIV activist Nikolai Panchenko, poet-performer Olga Krauze, human rights defenders Alexander Vinnikov, Vladimir Shnitke, Maxim Ivanozov, and Nina Tagakina, among others.
However, the event did not pass without incidents. Before the presentation of the book “Malchik” — otets muzhchiny by Igor Kon, correspondents of NTV and a group of nationalists led by Roman Zentsov
showed up in the hall where a discussion was to take place. The festival organizers accused the NTV correspondents of an attempt to create a scandal.
Outside the competition program a retrospective of German cinema from the Weimar Republic was shown: “Different from the Others
” - the first gay movie in the history of cinema, “Mädchen in Uniform” – the first movie to touch the theme of female homosexuality, and cult film “Michael
”. The film forum was closed with a concert by Ulyana Angelevskaya.
Due to the disruption of the previous year’s festival, the 2008 program was partly repeated in 2009. In total, four feature, six documentary and twelve short films were shown.
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In April 2010, Stephen Fry’s film HIV & me was shown as part of the Week Against Homophobia. The actor also made an appeal to the Russian public.
In April 2010, Side by Side International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival travelled outside the city, to Kemerovo
and Novosibirsk
. In Novosibirsk the festival ran from the 15th to the 18th of April with the support of the Department for Culture of Novosibirsk Oblast and the Goethe-Institut
. It attracted a great deal of spectators and media attention, and the events gathered around 700 visitors. In Kemerovo the film screenings were to take place from the 17th to the 19th of April in two official city cinemas. To begin with the city administration supported the festival but changed its position fundamentally one day before the festival opening. As a result, both cinemas refused to rent out their halls but the festival took nevertheless place in private venues.
“According to the 5th clause of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights everyone has a right to run and visit a cultural event. We realized this right in Novosibirsk — and it was a bright and successful event in the cultural and public life of the capital of Siberia. We met discrimination in Kemerovo. However, we shall continue our work to realize our rights.” The founder of the film festival Manny de Guerre.
In July, a festival was planned in Archangelsk with support of the local LGBT organization Rakurs. However, because of religious and nationalist groups’ pressure on local authorities, it took place at an undisclosed venue.
The screening of the film Cut Homophobia took place on the 18th of September 2010 as part of the 2nd International Queer Culture Festival. It was followed by discussion under the topic of Injustice. Lawlessness. Discrimination. Are Russia Artists Concerned with these Issues?
, American screenwriter and director Gus Van Sant
, British director Ken Loach
, British actor, director and writer Stephen Fry
, Russian actor and artist Sergei Bugaev (Afrika), and film critic Mikhail Trofimenkov. Later on they were joined by British actor Ian McKellen
, Commissioner for Human Rights at the Council of Europe Thomas Hammarberg
, British writer and director Mike Leigh
, singer Marc Almond
, and American director Bruce LaBruce
.
In 2010 the film festival passed without incidents in public venues. For the first time animations were included in the program. An exhibition of LGBT film festival posters from Europe, Asia, America and Africa was also held, in order to visually show the history of the development of such festivals. The non-competition program under the name of “Love behind the Iron Curtain” presented vintage films shot in the countries from the former Socialist block: Hungarian film “Another way
” from 1982 by Károly Makk, “Westler”, a film from the Federal Republic of Germany by Wieland Speck, and “Coming out” by Heiner Carow, which was the first and last gay film produced in the German Democratic Republic as it was released only a few hours before the Berlin Wall fell.
The festival was visited by special guests: Swedish animator Lasse Persson, German actor Matthias Freihof, Israeli director Tomer Heymann, Danish directors Iben Haar Andersen and Minna Gross, Turkish transgender activist, heroine of the movie Me and Nuri Bula, transsexual Esmeray, Russian director Dmitriy Gribanov, and film critic Oleg Kovalov. Roundtable discussions were held about children in same-sex families, transgender rights in Russia and Turkey, homophobia in society, movement for LGBT rights in Russia and the world, among others.
This year the film festival found a visual embodiment for its award called BoBik (an analogue of the Berlin bear Teddy
and the Venetian Queer Lion
). The prototype of Bobik was festival founder Manny de Guerre’s dog. The name comes from the abbreviation for the festival “Bok o Bok” (“Side by Side” in Russian).
The competition program consisted of four features including one Russian, four documentaries and fourteen short films. For the first time, there was also an animation section presented with twelve films.
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At the end of March 2009, the film forum planned to participate Open Your Eyes Film Festival with film Prayers for Bobby. However, the city cinema halls Dom Kino and Rodina refused to conduct the screenings “on ideological grounds” and after pressure from the prosecutor broke the rental contract with the Mihail Chemiakin Foundation. As part of the German Week, a photo exhibition and screening took place.
This year a series of screenings was successfully completed in Novosibirsk and Kemerovo, in February on the issue of coming out and in April as part of the Week Against Homophobia. In May the film festival showed its program of 2010 in open venues and unlike the year before, this time the event passed without incidents.
A tour to Tomsk was planned for June 2011 but on the opening day the venues refused to conduct the screenings under pressure from local administration, as a result of which the film forum was moved to other venues.
Film festival
A film festival is an organised, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theaters or screening venues, usually in a single locality. More and more often film festivals show part of their films to the public by adding outdoor movie screenings...
that seeks to explore the issues of homosexuality
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
, bisexuality
Bisexuality
Bisexuality is sexual behavior or an orientation involving physical or romantic attraction to both males and females, especially with regard to men and women. It is one of the three main classifications of sexual orientation, along with a heterosexual and a homosexual orientation, all a part of the...
and transgender
Transgender
Transgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to vary from culturally conventional gender roles....
(LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
) through art cinema. Since 2008 it has taken place every autumn in St. Petersburg. Furthermore, various special events are held almost every month, and since 2009 screenings have been conducted also in other regions in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
.
The film festival aims to establish an open cultural space in which Russian society and the LGBT community can enter into a broad discussion, and generate a positive dialogue, thus contributing to the struggle against discrimination
Discrimination
Discrimination is the prejudicial treatment of an individual based on their membership in a certain group or category. It involves the actual behaviors towards groups such as excluding or restricting members of one group from opportunities that are available to another group. The term began to be...
based on sex
Sex
In biology, sex is a process of combining and mixing genetic traits, often resulting in the specialization of organisms into a male or female variety . Sexual reproduction involves combining specialized cells to form offspring that inherit traits from both parents...
, gender identity
Gender identity
A gender identity is the way in which an individual self-identifies with a gender category, for example, as being either a man or a woman, or in some cases being neither, which can be distinct from biological sex. Basic gender identity is usually formed by age three and is extremely difficult to...
and sexual orientation
Sexual orientation
Sexual orientation describes a pattern of emotional, romantic, or sexual attractions to the opposite sex, the same sex, both, or neither, and the genders that accompany them. By the convention of organized researchers, these attractions are subsumed under heterosexuality, homosexuality,...
. In addition, the festival offers a space where homosexual and transgendered persons can feel comfortable with themselves and affirm, question and extend their identities. The slogan of the film forum is “Different love, equal rights”.
The film festival was founded by Manny de Guerre. Gulya Sultanova works is the festival director and Tanya Shmankevich is the project manager of the festival.
Background and concept
Having begun in the late 1980s, the Russian gay and lesbian rights movementLGBT social movements
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender social movements share inter-related goals of social acceptance of sexual and gender minorities. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people and their allies have a long history of campaigning for what is generally called LGBT rights, also called gay...
came to very little by mid-90s. By the 21st century, neither a human rights movement nor a LGBT community as a group of people, united by common values and conscious of the shared cultural and historical fate, had been formed. Started in 2006, the Gay Pride Movement
Moscow Pride
Moscow Pride is a demonstration of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgendered persons . It was intended to take place in May annually since 2006 in the Russian capital Moscow, but has been regularly banned by Moscow City Hall, headed by Mayor Yuri Luzhkov until 2010...
strengthened the disagreements between different LGBT groups and with society at large. Moreover, it did not pursue the goal of establishing a cultural space.
At that time LGBT culture was developing fast in the West, also in the area of art cinema. In 1977, the first LGBT- film festival Frameline was held in San Francisco. Ten years later in 1987, a special LGBT film award
Teddy Award
The Teddy Award is an international film award for films with LGBT topics, presented by an independent jury as an official award of the Berlin International Film Festival . Here, an "independent jury" implies that its members are not officially selected by the committee of the Berlinale...
was created at the Berlin International Film Festival
Berlin International Film Festival
The Berlin International Film Festival , also called the Berlinale, is one of the world's leading film festivals and most reputable media events. It is held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in West Berlin in 1951, the festival has been celebrated annually in February since 1978...
. Over time, LGBT film forums have become an integral part of cultural life in Western societies. A great number of festivals, visited by thousands of people, run every year, and the most prestigious of them have their own gay award.
Side by Side Film Festival emerged, on the one hand, in the wake of the world-wide traditions, and on the other, as a response to the urgent needs of the Russian LGBT community. The organizers strived to create an open cultural space for the self-development and reflection of the LGBT community while at the same time exposing the problems of the LGBT community known to the general public by building a positive dialogue between the minority and the majority, deconstructing myths and stereotypes, helping to change the public opinion and develop understanding, acceptance and tolerance. According to the organizers this is one of the ways to overcome hate, discrimination and violence towards LGBT people.
The festival program consists of three main sections, all of them with corresponding awards: feature, documentary and short film. Films are selected from the previous season’s film forums and through application process. The non-competition program includes a variety of events: unique retrospective screenings, exhibitions, photo competitions, book presentations, concerts, workshops etc. The screenings are usually followed by a discussion or lecture to reflect issues raised by the film and to discuss how they are projected in contemporary Russian society. Every event hosts special guests, well-known international and Russian experts in the field of art, sociology, psychology or human rights. They form a jury which selects the award winners in all three categories. The festival visitors can also vote for their own favorite for the Audience Award.
The film festival actively seeks to attract volunteers during events. Over the years the film festival has been supported by the Berlin International Film Festival
Berlin International Film Festival
The Berlin International Film Festival , also called the Berlinale, is one of the world's leading film festivals and most reputable media events. It is held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in West Berlin in 1951, the festival has been celebrated annually in February since 1978...
’s Teddy Award, Kyiv International Film Festival Molodist, Goethe-Institut
Goethe-Institut
The Goethe-Institut is a non-profit German cultural institution operational worldwide, promoting the study of the German language abroad and encouraging international cultural exchange and relations. The Goethe-Institut also fosters knowledge about Germany by providing information on German...
, the Danish Cultural Institute
Danish Cultural Institute
The Danish Cultural Institute promotes cultural exchanges between Denmark and the rest of the world. It supports projects aimed at long-term cooperation between foreign and Danish cultural institutions, artists and other professionals....
, the Swedish Film Institute
Swedish Film Institute
The Swedish Film Institute was founded in 1963 to support and develop the Swedish film industry. The institute is housed in the Filmhuset building located in Gärdet, Östermalm in Stockholm...
, Heinrich Böll Foundation
Heinrich Böll Foundation
The Heinrich Böll Foundation is a German, legally independent political foundation. Affiliated with the German Green Party, it was originally founded in 1987 and rebuilt in 1997...
, Time Out journal, among others.
1st International Side by Side LGBT Film Festival
The idea of running a film festival in Saint Petersburg first came up in a meeting between Manny de Guerre and Irina Sergeeva in the summer of 2007. A wide resonance and heated discussions arose in society as the plan of organizing the festival was announced publicly at the end of December.Director Alexandr Sokurov, rock musician Svetlana Surganova
Svetlana Surganova
Svetlana Yakovlevna Surganova is a Russian rock musician, singer and poet. She was a founding member of the popular Russian rock band Nochnye Snaipery, vocalling and playing violin....
, sociologist Igor Kon
Igor Kon
Igor Semyonovich Kon was a Soviet and Russian philosopher, psychologist, and sexologist. His scientific publications have been translated into various languages.-Biography:...
, poet Marina Chen, actor Anatolij Ravikovich, human rights defender Sergey Grigoryants, politician Valeriya Novodvorskaya, British novelist Sarah Waters
Sarah Waters
Sarah Waters is a British novelist. She is best known for her novels set in Victorian society, such as Tipping the Velvet and Fingersmith.-Childhood:Sarah Waters was born in Neyland, Pembrokeshire, Wales in 1966....
, British human rights defender Peter Tatchell
Peter Tatchell
Peter Gary Tatchell is an Australian-born British political campaigner best known for his work with LGBT social movements...
, Israeli producer Eytan Fox
Eytan Fox
-Biography:Fox was born in New York City and moved with his family to Israel when he was two. His father, Seymour Fox, was a Conservative rabbi and a leading professor of Jewish education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His mother, Sara Kaminker-Fox, was the head of the Jerusalem city...
, Israeli producer Gal Uchovsky, American producer John Cameron Mitchell
John Cameron Mitchell
John Cameron Mitchell is an American writer, actor, and director. He is best known for his motion pictures Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Shortbus and Rabbit Hole.- Early life:...
, and LGBT-activist Nikolay Alexeyev gave their support to the film festival. Berlin International Film Festival
Berlin International Film Festival
The Berlin International Film Festival , also called the Berlinale, is one of the world's leading film festivals and most reputable media events. It is held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in West Berlin in 1951, the festival has been celebrated annually in February since 1978...
, NewFest: New York Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender Film Festival
New York Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender Film Festival
NewFest: The New York Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender Film Festival put on by The New Festival, Inc., is one of the most comprehensive forums of international LGBT film/video in the world....
, and Kyiv International Film Festival Molodist officially supported «Side by Side» Film Festival.
Representatives of The International Association of Cinematographers of Slavic and Orthodox People, actors Nikolai Burlyayev
Nikolai Burlyayev
Nikolai Petrovich Burlyayev is a renowned Soviet and Russian actor. Born into a family of actors, Nikolai started his acting career in film and theatre when he was still a child. He is best known for his title role in Andrei Tarkovsky's Ivan's Childhood. He worked with Tarkovsky again four years...
and Mikhail Porechenkov
Mikhail Porechenkov
Mikhail Porechenkov is a Russian film actor, producer and director. In 2008, Porechenkov produced, directed and starred in D-Day , a Russian remake of the 1985 American action film Commando.-External links:...
, producer Mark Rudinshtein, artist Oleg Basilashvili
Oleg Basilashvili
Oleg Valerianovich Basilashvili is a well-known Soviet/Russian film and theatre actor of Georgian and Polish origin, as well as political figure in the former Soviet Union and in the new Russia.-Childhood:...
, director Yevgeniy Tatarskiy, head of the press service of the Russian Orthodox Church
Russian Orthodox Church
The Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...
Mihail Moiseyev, and the head of the city committee for culture Nikolay Burov were against the film festival.
In February 2008, Dom Kino cinema, the planned venue for the screenings, terminated the preliminary agreement with the festival organizers due to “building repairs”. However, as it turned out later, the movie hall was never closed during the period. In September 2008, already after the beginning of ticket sale, PIK cinema under pressure from authorities terminated the contract without explanations. At the same time the police were conducting spot-checks at Bunker and Central Station gay clubs, during which the visitors were insulted, humiliated, and blackmailed. In October 2008, the new venues that had been found (clubs Sochi and The Palace) were closed on the eve of the festival for two weeks by fire inspections. However, right after refusing to host the event they were allowed to carry on working.
After these events, civil youth movements Oborona
Oborona
Oborona is a non-partisan civic youth movement in Russia. Its name means "Defense [from]" in Russian. The movement was established in 2005 and has no leader or centralized structure. Instead, it is based on the network principle and mostly horizontal relations.The movement opposes what they call...
and LGBT-organization Coming Out sent an open letter to the governor of Saint Petersburg Valentina Matviyenko
Valentina Matviyenko
Valentina Ivanovna Matviyenko , born 7 April 1949 in the Ukrainian SSR), is currently the highest-ranking female politician in Russia, the former governor of Saint Petersburg and the current Chairman of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation...
demanding her to comment on the situation. Famous St. Petersburg artists Gljuklja and Caplja also expressed their support. After hearing about the closure of the festival, they changed their programme at Dom Kino and screened a film about transgender boys Komnata Viki i Zheni. Furthermore, referring to the German reformer Martin Luther
Martin Luther
Martin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517...
, a student group performed an action called Reformation at the Committee for Culture of Saint Petersburg.
As a result, the film festival took place ‘underground’ in a secret venue from 4th to 5th October 2008. In the course of two days art and documentary films were screened, including a panorama of Berlin International Film Festival short movie award winners. The screenings were followed by discussions in which the festival guests director John Cameron Mitchell, Rodney Swell , Maxim Zirin, representatives of the Berlin International Film Festival’s Teddy Award Klaus Ascheneller and New Fest Director Basil Tsiokos, and Russian transgender Julietta among others participated. In addition, there was a photo competition (Love in pink and blue measurement), Lida Mihailovaya’s photo project: “I am lesbian. Do people around me know about it?” and Alexander Nizovskiy’s “Drag Queens Show.”
The competition program consisted of eight feature, eight documentary and twenty-three short films, including Oscar
Oscar
Oscar, The Oscar, OSCAR or Oskar may refer to:* Academy Award or Oscar, presented by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for cinematic film achievements...
, Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
and Berlin International Film Festival
Berlin International Film Festival
The Berlin International Film Festival , also called the Berlinale, is one of the world's leading film festivals and most reputable media events. It is held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in West Berlin in 1951, the festival has been celebrated annually in February since 1978...
award winners. Among them there was one Russian documentary tape and one Kazakhstan short film.
Jury
- Klaus Mabel Aschenneller – producer of the annual premium «Teddy AwardTeddy AwardThe Teddy Award is an international film award for films with LGBT topics, presented by an independent jury as an official award of the Berlin International Film Festival . Here, an "independent jury" implies that its members are not officially selected by the committee of the Berlinale...
» within the framework of the Berlin International Film FestivalBerlin International Film FestivalThe Berlin International Film Festival , also called the Berlinale, is one of the world's leading film festivals and most reputable media events. It is held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in West Berlin in 1951, the festival has been celebrated annually in February since 1978...
. - Svetlana SurganovaSvetlana SurganovaSvetlana Yakovlevna Surganova is a Russian rock musician, singer and poet. She was a founding member of the popular Russian rock band Nochnye Snaipery, vocalling and playing violin....
– famous Russian rock musician, founder of «Nochniye SnaiperiNochniye SnaiperiNochnyie Snaipery is a Russian rock group. It was founded in 1993 as an acoustic female duo of Diana Arbenina and Svetlana Surganova . The ladies played guitar and violin respectively, sharing the vocal and songwriting duties evenly, eventually adding amplification to the band...
» and «Surganova and Orchestra» - Basil Tsiokos – artistic director of the New York Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender Film FestivalNew York Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender Film FestivalNewFest: The New York Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender Film Festival put on by The New Festival, Inc., is one of the most comprehensive forums of international LGBT film/video in the world....
, a member of the International Jury of the Berlin International Film FestivalBerlin International Film FestivalThe Berlin International Film Festival , also called the Berlinale, is one of the world's leading film festivals and most reputable media events. It is held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in West Berlin in 1951, the festival has been celebrated annually in February since 1978...
.
Awards
- The best feature film – «XXYXXY (film)XXY is a 2007 Argentine film written and directed by Lucía Puenzo. The film stars Ricardo Darín, Valeria Bertuccelli, Inés Efron and Martín Piroyansky...
» of director Lucía PuenzoLucía PuenzoLucía Puenzo in Buenos Aires) is an Argentinian author and film director. She is the daughter of Luis Puenzo.She studied literature at the University of Buenos Aires followed by the National Film Institute ....
, Argentina 2007. - The best documentary film – «Anyone and Everyone» of director Susan Polis SchutzSusan Polis SchutzSusan Polis Schutz is an American poet and producer of greeting cards and the mother of U.S. Congressman Jared Polis of Colorado....
, USA 2007. - The best short-footage film – «No Bikini» of director Claudia Morgado Escanilla, Canada 2007.
- Audience Award – «Another's Body» of director Maxim Zirin, Russia 2008.
Following events
Furthermore, the film program was shown at various venues in the city as well as presented in several film festivals: Kyiv International Film Festival Molodist, Open Your Eyes Film Festival Against Xenophobia and Racism, Festival of Festivals International Film Festival in St. Petersburg, and German Week in Saint Petersburg. Organizer Manny de Guerre was invited to the 59th Berlin International Film Festival as a member of the Teddy Award jury.In September 2009, the director of the festival Gjulnara Sultanova together with the representative for the Russian LGBT Network Igor Kochetkovyi had a meeting with Igor Mihailov, Human Rights Ombudsman in Saint Petersburg who granted his support for them.
In addition, educational brochures about coming out (How to tell? and How to understand?) and Parenthood. Transgender. Religion were released.
In summer, 2009 Side by Side was invited to participate in Festival of Festivals. Under pressure, the administration of cinema Rodina refused to conduct the screening. However, the cinema Dom kino accepted to show the film with the condition that the LGBT film festival would not be mentioned.
2nd International Side by Side LGBT Film Festival
The second film festival ran from 23rd to 31st of October 2009. Unlike the year before, it did not provoke such a stong reaction in society, and the screenings took place in public venues. The organizers had sought support from Western consulates and cultural centers to ensure the film festival would not be disrupted. According to the organizers, the festival was visited by more than two thousand people. Besides the film screenings, several roundtable discussions were organized on various issues: human rightsHuman rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
and discrimination
Discrimination
Discrimination is the prejudicial treatment of an individual based on their membership in a certain group or category. It involves the actual behaviors towards groups such as excluding or restricting members of one group from opportunities that are available to another group. The term began to be...
, the history of the LGBT-community, coming out
Coming out
Coming out is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity....
, same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage is marriage between two persons of the same biological sex or social gender. Supporters of legal recognition for same-sex marriage typically refer to such recognition as marriage equality....
, children with same-sex parents, problems of elderly LGBT people, transgender myths and reality, masculinity in contemporary society, religion and sexuality, among others. Sociologist Igor Kon
Igor Kon
Igor Semyonovich Kon was a Soviet and Russian philosopher, psychologist, and sexologist. His scientific publications have been translated into various languages.-Biography:...
, psychotherapist Dmitriy Isaev, LGBT activist Igor Kochetkov, artist Ivan Chechot, German activist Mahide Lein, HIV activist Nikolai Panchenko, poet-performer Olga Krauze, human rights defenders Alexander Vinnikov, Vladimir Shnitke, Maxim Ivanozov, and Nina Tagakina, among others.
However, the event did not pass without incidents. Before the presentation of the book “Malchik” — otets muzhchiny by Igor Kon, correspondents of NTV and a group of nationalists led by Roman Zentsov
Roman Zentsov
Roman Zentsov is a Russian heavyweight mixed martial arts fighter who has competed in the PRIDE Fighting Championships, a major MMA organization based in Japan, and BodogFIGHT...
showed up in the hall where a discussion was to take place. The festival organizers accused the NTV correspondents of an attempt to create a scandal.
Outside the competition program a retrospective of German cinema from the Weimar Republic was shown: “Different from the Others
Different From The Others
Different From The Others is a German film produced during the Weimar Republic. It was first released in 1919 and stars Conrad Veidt and Reinhold Schünzel.The story for Anders als die Andern was written by Richard Oswald with the assistance of Dr...
” - the first gay movie in the history of cinema, “Mädchen in Uniform” – the first movie to touch the theme of female homosexuality, and cult film “Michael
Michael (1924 film)
Michael was a silent film released in 1924, directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer, director of other notable silents such as The Passion of Joan of Arc , Master of the House , and Leaves from Satan's Book...
”. The film forum was closed with a concert by Ulyana Angelevskaya.
Due to the disruption of the previous year’s festival, the 2008 program was partly repeated in 2009. In total, four feature, six documentary and twelve short films were shown.
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Jury
- Igor KonIgor KonIgor Semyonovich Kon was a Soviet and Russian philosopher, psychologist, and sexologist. His scientific publications have been translated into various languages.-Biography:...
– famous Russian sociologist and philosopher - Tamara Larina – artistic director of International Short Film and Animation Festival Open Cinema
- Nina Tagankina – human rights defender, executive director of Moscow Helsinki Group
- Sergey Baidak – project leader of Inoekino
Awards
Due to the partial repetition of the previous year’s program, the award system was reorganized:- The best social film – “FreeheldFreeheldFreeheld is a 2007 documentary film directed by Cynthia Wade, and produced by Wade, Matthew Syrett and Vanessa Roth. It chronicles the story of Laurel Hester in her fight against the Ocean County, New Jersey Board of Chosen Freeholders to give her earned pension benefits to her partner, Stacie. On...
”, directed by Cynthia WadeCynthia WadeCynthia Wade is an American television and film director, producer and cinematographer based in New York City. She has directed documentaries on social issues including Shelter Dogs in 2003 about animal welfare and Freeheld in 2007 about LGBT rights....
, USA 2007 - The best educational film – “I am gay”, directed by Nikolas Kolovos, Sweden 2008
- The best film about human value – “Georgie Girl”, directed by Annie Goldson and Peter Wells, New Zealand 2001
- The audience award – “Mädchen in Uniform”, directed by Leontine SaganLeontine SaganLeontine Sagan was an Austrian actress and theatre director.Born in Budapest, Sagan trained with Max Reinhardt. The first and most widely known of her two films is Mädchen in Uniform...
, Germany 1931
Following events
The International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival Side by Side received an award at the Berlin International Film Festival for the contribution to the development of LGBT movement in Russia, a few weeks before director Gulya Sultanova became a member of the jury at the Berlinale’s Teddy Award. In spring 2010, Side by Side Film Festival also took part in the International Film Festival Against Racism and Xenophobia “Open Your Eyes!” With the film “Georgie Girl”. The screening was a major success.In April 2010, Stephen Fry’s film HIV & me was shown as part of the Week Against Homophobia. The actor also made an appeal to the Russian public.
In April 2010, Side by Side International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival travelled outside the city, to Kemerovo
Kemerovo
Kemerovo is an industrial city in Russia, situated on the Tom River, east-northeast of Novosibirsk. It is the administrative center of Kemerovo Oblast, located in the major coal mining region of the Kuznetsk Basin...
and Novosibirsk
Novosibirsk
Novosibirsk is the third-largest city in Russia, after Moscow and Saint Petersburg, and the largest city of Siberia, with a population of 1,473,737 . It is the administrative center of Novosibirsk Oblast as well as of the Siberian Federal District...
. In Novosibirsk the festival ran from the 15th to the 18th of April with the support of the Department for Culture of Novosibirsk Oblast and the Goethe-Institut
Goethe-Institut
The Goethe-Institut is a non-profit German cultural institution operational worldwide, promoting the study of the German language abroad and encouraging international cultural exchange and relations. The Goethe-Institut also fosters knowledge about Germany by providing information on German...
. It attracted a great deal of spectators and media attention, and the events gathered around 700 visitors. In Kemerovo the film screenings were to take place from the 17th to the 19th of April in two official city cinemas. To begin with the city administration supported the festival but changed its position fundamentally one day before the festival opening. As a result, both cinemas refused to rent out their halls but the festival took nevertheless place in private venues.
“According to the 5th clause of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights everyone has a right to run and visit a cultural event. We realized this right in Novosibirsk — and it was a bright and successful event in the cultural and public life of the capital of Siberia. We met discrimination in Kemerovo. However, we shall continue our work to realize our rights.” The founder of the film festival Manny de Guerre.
In July, a festival was planned in Archangelsk with support of the local LGBT organization Rakurs. However, because of religious and nationalist groups’ pressure on local authorities, it took place at an undisclosed venue.
The screening of the film Cut Homophobia took place on the 18th of September 2010 as part of the 2nd International Queer Culture Festival. It was followed by discussion under the topic of Injustice. Lawlessness. Discrimination. Are Russia Artists Concerned with these Issues?
3rd Side by Side LGBT International Film Festival Side by Side
The festival was planned to run from the 15th to the 23rd of October in 2010 and it was supported by Spanish director Pedro AlmodóvarPedro Almodóvar
Pedro Almodóvar Caballero is a Spanish film director, screenwriter and producer.Almodóvar is arguably the most successful and internationally known Spanish filmmaker of his generation. His films, marked by complex narratives, employ the codes of melodrama and use elements of pop culture, popular...
, American screenwriter and director Gus Van Sant
Gus Van Sant
Gus Green Van Sant, Jr. is an American director, screenwriter, painter, photographer, musician, and author. He is a two time nominee of the Academy Award for Best Director for his 1997 film Good Will Hunting and his 2008 film Milk, both of which were also nominated for Best Picture, and won the...
, British director Ken Loach
Ken Loach
Kenneth "Ken" Loach is a Palme D'Or winning English film and television director.He is known for his naturalistic, social realist directing style and for his socialist beliefs, which are evident in his film treatment of social issues such as homelessness , labour rights and child abuse at the...
, British actor, director and writer Stephen Fry
Stephen Fry
Stephen John Fry is an English actor, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, poet, comedian, television presenter and film director, and a director of Norwich City Football Club. He first came to attention in the 1981 Cambridge Footlights Revue presentation "The Cellar Tapes", which also...
, Russian actor and artist Sergei Bugaev (Afrika), and film critic Mikhail Trofimenkov. Later on they were joined by British actor Ian McKellen
Ian McKellen
Sir Ian Murray McKellen, CH, CBE is an English actor. He has received a Tony Award, two Academy Award nominations, and five Emmy Award nominations. His work has spanned genres from Shakespearean and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction...
, Commissioner for Human Rights at the Council of Europe Thomas Hammarberg
Thomas Hammarberg
Thomas Hammarberg is a Swedish diplomat and human rights defender.He is currently the Commissioner for Human Rights at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg...
, British writer and director Mike Leigh
Mike Leigh
Michael "Mike" Leigh, OBE is a British writer and director of film and theatre. He studied theatre at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and studied further at the Camberwell School of Art and the Central School of Art and Design. He began as a theatre director and playwright in the mid 1960s...
, singer Marc Almond
Marc Almond
Marc Almond is an English singer-songwriter and musician, who originally found fame as half of the seminal synthpop/New Wave duo Soft Cell...
, and American director Bruce LaBruce
Bruce LaBruce
Bruce LaBruce is a Canadian writer, filmmaker, photographer and underground gay porn director based in Toronto, Ontario.-Biography:...
.
In 2010 the film festival passed without incidents in public venues. For the first time animations were included in the program. An exhibition of LGBT film festival posters from Europe, Asia, America and Africa was also held, in order to visually show the history of the development of such festivals. The non-competition program under the name of “Love behind the Iron Curtain” presented vintage films shot in the countries from the former Socialist block: Hungarian film “Another way
Another Way (film)
Another Way , is a 1982 Hungarian film directed by Károly Makk about an affair between two women. It is based on a semi-autobiographical novella Another Love by Erzsébet Galgóczi , who co-wrote the screenplay with Makk...
” from 1982 by Károly Makk, “Westler”, a film from the Federal Republic of Germany by Wieland Speck, and “Coming out” by Heiner Carow, which was the first and last gay film produced in the German Democratic Republic as it was released only a few hours before the Berlin Wall fell.
The festival was visited by special guests: Swedish animator Lasse Persson, German actor Matthias Freihof, Israeli director Tomer Heymann, Danish directors Iben Haar Andersen and Minna Gross, Turkish transgender activist, heroine of the movie Me and Nuri Bula, transsexual Esmeray, Russian director Dmitriy Gribanov, and film critic Oleg Kovalov. Roundtable discussions were held about children in same-sex families, transgender rights in Russia and Turkey, homophobia in society, movement for LGBT rights in Russia and the world, among others.
This year the film festival found a visual embodiment for its award called BoBik (an analogue of the Berlin bear Teddy
Teddy Award
The Teddy Award is an international film award for films with LGBT topics, presented by an independent jury as an official award of the Berlin International Film Festival . Here, an "independent jury" implies that its members are not officially selected by the committee of the Berlinale...
and the Venetian Queer Lion
Queer Lion
Queer Lion is the trophy awarded from 2007 to the “Best Movie with LGBT Themes & Queer Culture” among those presented during the Venice International Film Festival.-History:...
). The prototype of Bobik was festival founder Manny de Guerre’s dog. The name comes from the abbreviation for the festival “Bok o Bok” (“Side by Side” in Russian).
The competition program consisted of four features including one Russian, four documentaries and fourteen short films. For the first time, there was also an animation section presented with twelve films.
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Jury
- Gljuklja (Natalya Pershina-Yakimanskaya) – artist, director, scriptwriter from Saint Petersburg
- Serge GolovachSerge GolovachSergey Mikhaylovich Golovach is a contemporary artist. He uses body-art, performance art, panoramic photography, photo-films, silk screen printing, animation as well as pod-casting as artistic media...
– artist, photographer and public figure from Moscow* - Dmitrij Dubrokskij – human rights defender and civic activist, teacher at Saint Petersburg State University and Smolny College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
- Antoine Cattin – film-documentalist, editor of Hors-Champ film journal. Known in Russia for his co-work with Pavel Kostomapov
Awards
- The best feature film – “My Friend from Faro”, directed by Nana Neul, Germany 2008
- The best documentary – “I shot my love”, directed by Tomer Heymann Israel / Germany 2010
- The best short film – “Hammerhead”, directed by Samuel Donovan, UK 2009
- The best animation – “Hand in Hand”, directed by Lasse Persson, Sweden 1996
- The audience award – “Hello, my name is lesbian”, directed by Iben Haahr Andersen & Minna Gross, Danemark 2009
Following events
In December 2010, Side by Side showed the film Freeheld as part of the Film Festival 32 May, which displeased some authorities of the Saint Petersburg administration.At the end of March 2009, the film forum planned to participate Open Your Eyes Film Festival with film Prayers for Bobby. However, the city cinema halls Dom Kino and Rodina refused to conduct the screenings “on ideological grounds” and after pressure from the prosecutor broke the rental contract with the Mihail Chemiakin Foundation. As part of the German Week, a photo exhibition and screening took place.
This year a series of screenings was successfully completed in Novosibirsk and Kemerovo, in February on the issue of coming out and in April as part of the Week Against Homophobia. In May the film festival showed its program of 2010 in open venues and unlike the year before, this time the event passed without incidents.
A tour to Tomsk was planned for June 2011 but on the opening day the venues refused to conduct the screenings under pressure from local administration, as a result of which the film forum was moved to other venues.