The penultimate day of the third version of Ukraine’s first and solely LGBTQ+ movie pageant, Sunny Bunny in Kyiv, might be remembered for a loud, sleepless night time.
And it wasn’t due to the events — it was due to an enormous Russian missile and drone assault, one of many largest for the reason that invasion started. The morning after, I met the movie pageant director Bohdan Zhuk and PR director Tasia Pugach on the bench in entrance of the Zhovten movie show.
“In some unspecified time in the future I felt a blast wave,” Zhuk mentioned whereas rolling a cigarette, as Pugach recounted how she spent the night time with a cat in an underground parking. Regardless, they’ve acquired work deliberate for the day, which incorporates consistently adapting to new realities. Whereas the Sunny Bunny pageant is a battle child born in 2023, this yr’s version confronted different obstacles.
A significant blow got here from the cancellation of USAID funding, which the pageant had relied on in previous editions.
“It was a big amount of cash, however our lives didn’t rely on it. I noticed that we may undoubtedly fundraise, discover different partnerships and options. As a result of who can do it if not us? There have to be some form of extraordinary state of affairs for us to cancel the pageant,” mentioned Zhuk.
The pageant’s third version value about 60,000 euros, which they pieced collectively from scraps. “Typically, we’ve by no means been in a position to elevate a correct finances from a number of donors; it’s reasonably a small assist from a number of totally different nationwide and worldwide sources,” he added.
As within the earlier yr, the Ukrainian State Movie Company supplied a specific amount of funding, as did main worldwide companions such because the Goethe Institute and the Worldwide Renaissance Basis, amongst others.
Nonetheless, Zhuk shared that “right this moment, there’s a notable minimize in funding for Ukrainian cultural initiatives. A few of them shut down fully.”
However what has helped considerably is cooperation with embassies, of which the pageant has as many as 10, from Canada to Argentina. The UK, as an illustration, supplied a extremely widespread retrospective of British queer cinema. Contemplating all of the challenges, the compiled program is genuinely spectacular with 60 movies that embody a mixture of ultra-fresh Sundance/Berlinale titles as “Peter Hujar’s Day” or “Lesbian Area Princesses,” with hits from final yr like “I Am Not Every thing I Need to Be” or “Viet and Nam.”
However actually darkish occasions have been simply forward. As the ultimate structure of the pageant was underway, tragedy struck: Zhuk’s brother died on the entrance defending the nation. Across the identical time, his irreplaceable programmer, Viktor Hlon, was mobilized. “We managed to get by means of it by means of large mutual assist in our workforce,” mentioned Zhuk.
Air raid alerts stay a every day problem for the pageant. As quickly as they begin, the film is paused and the viewers is obliged to go to the bomb shelter. When the risk is over, the film is put again on play. But when the alert lasts greater than half-hour, the screening is postponed. This yr, Pugach and Zhuk solely needed to postpone 4 screenings.
Regardless of the already brutal exterior threats, the pageant additionally suffered from inside ones, coming from its personal fellow residents. Sunny Bunny is well-acquainted with homophobic assaults, as in 2014, when the occasion was nonetheless solely a sidebar of the Kyiv Worldwide Movie Pageant Molodist in Ukraine: Throughout the screening of the movie “Summer season Nights,” the primary corridor of the cinema was set on hearth. Now at Sunny Bunny, dozens of law enforcement officials patrol the venue. This yr’s pageant saved them busy, equivalent to on April 19, when members of the Prava Molod (“The Proper Youth” in Ukrainian) gathered to precise their discontent and defend “conventional values.” The police detained about 60 individuals.
Though the workforce is used to threats, this yr, the state of affairs was infected by the truth that the pageant’s midpoint fell on Orthodox Easter, April 20. Social media customers debated whether or not it’s acceptable to carry a queer movie pageant on such a vacation however, “for some cause, nobody has attacked many different leisure occasions on this present day. It’s only a handy excuse for homophobes,” mentioned Pugach.
The paradox is that these manifestations, quite the opposite, carry Ukraine nearer to its widespread enemy, as in Russia, homophobia is flourishing with unimaginable drive proper now. “This self-contradiction is a fertile floor for sociological analysis,” agreed Zhuk.
Nonetheless, the unfavorable PR introduced the pageant much more consideration. “We obtained many phrases of assist, and a few who defended us wrote that this scandal reminded them that Sunny Bunny has begun, and it’s time to ebook tickets,” added Pugach with a smile.
Past combating homophobia, the pageant additionally desires to carry variety to queer discourse by means of its programming and to maneuver away from established clichés. For instance, Zhuk is personally involved that the main themes of queer cinema are nonetheless cisgender white homosexual males, a dominance he needed to maneuver away from in his pageant. He’s proud that they’ve a movie about intersex individuals, the documentary “Who Am I Not,” which he known as “an amazing rarity in fashionable cinema.”
For the second time, the Sunny Bunny pageant hosted a brief movie pitching competitors, providing a financial prize and aiming to stimulate extra homegrown Ukrainian movies. Zhuk cited the case of 1 younger Ukrainian director, Vadim Mochalov: “All three years, he has been actively volunteering on the pageant. Final yr, he took half within the pitching and obtained a particular point out, and this yr, his movie ‘The Story’ is already within the worldwide competitors.”
The vibe of the established sense of group is palpable on location as younger cinephiles binge-watch movies. Becoming a member of a number of of them within the smoking nook for an enthusiastic dialogue of the movie “Queens of Pleasure,” I felt this move of pleasure, which right this moment isn’t discovered on the streets of Ukraine. For them, Sunny Bunny is a technique to distract from the battle and get, if not a bodily secure area, then a minimum of a psychological one.
“It’s exhausting, to place it mildly,” Zhuk mentioned. “However I see the affect — glad individuals, formed group, and even when somebody tells me that the pageant modified their life — it’s extremely motivating and retains us shifting, it doesn’t matter what.”
But the pageant’s closing night time couldn’t be celebratory. That in a single day Russian assault on Kyiv killed 12 individuals and injured 87, with April 25 declared a day of mourning. The deliberate Sunny Bunny techno get together was canceled, and the shortened awards ceremony started with a minute of silence. The Sundance premiere, “Cactus Pears,” ended up successful the highest prize in the primary competitors (the complete record of winners will be seen right here). Calling the entire workforce to the stage, Zhuk thanked the viewers for his or her presence, the Armed Forces of Ukraine for his or her protection, and invited everybody to the fourth version subsequent yr.