The First Ukrainian Queer Film Festival Will Be Held in Kyiv — Program Announced

The Sunny Bunny («Сонячний зайчик») film festival, which has grown from the eponymous queer program of the “Molodist” festival, will take place in Kyiv from June 22 to 28. The main venues will be the Zhovten and KINO42 cinemas. In total, over 60 films of LGBTQIA+ themes will be shown. The organizers have announced the first part of the program – the competition of feature films and two non-competitive sections.

У повнометражній секції міжнародного конкурсу представлені 11 стрічок:

— “Concerned Citizen”, by director Idan Haguel (Israel, 2022);
— “Drifter”, Hannes Hirsch (Germany, 2023);
— “Follow the Protocol”, Fábio Leal (Brazil, 2022);
— “Mutt”, Vuk Lungulov-Klotz (USA, 2023);
— “My Emptiness and I”, Adrián Silvestre (Spain, 2022);
— “Neptune Frost”, Anisia Uzeyman and Saul Williams (Rwanda, France, Canada, USA, 2021);
— “Shall I Compare You to a Summer’s Day”, Mohammad Shawky Hassan (Egypt, Lebanon, Germany, 2022);
— “Silver Haze”, Sasha Polak (Netherlands, UK, 2023);
— “So Damn Easy Going”, Christoffer Sandler, (Sweden, Norway, 2022);
— “The Blue Caftan”, Maryam Touzani (France, Morocco, Belgium, Denmark, 2022);
— “Wolf and Dog”, Claudia Varejão (Portugal, France, 2022).

The non-competition program, New Colors, includes 9 films that have participated in and won various international festivals. Among them are “Three Nights a Week” by Florent Gouëlou (the opening film of the Critics’ Week at the Venice Film Festival in 2022), “All the Colors in the World Are Between Black and White” by Babatunde Apalowo (winner of the Teddy Award at this year’s Berlinale), “Bones and Names” by Fabian Stumm (winner of the Compass-Perspektive-Award at this year’s Berlinale), “Eismayer” by David Wagner (Grand Prize of the Critics’ Week at the Venice Film Festival in 2022), and “Medusa Deluxe” by Thomas Hardiman (British Independent Film Award winner).

The documentary program will feature the Canadian film “Framing Agnes” by director Chase Joynt, the film “Miguel’s War” by Eliane Raheb (Teddy Award at the 2021 Berlinale), “God Has AIDS” by Fabio Leal and Gustavo Vinagre, “Into My Name” by Niccolo Bassetti, “Loving Highsmith” by Eva Vitia, and “Labor” by Tove Pils.

The festival’s identity was developed by the agency Hexagon. “It is about the visibility of the LGBTQIA+ community in society and a reminder that these people are here, fighting, and deserve protection and fair treatment from institutions and society,” explain the organizers. The logo features a simplified symbol with a mascot in the form of a bunny, to which a pair was added.