Cinema as identity, cinema as resistance. As the state of LGBT rights in Russia continues to worsen even beyond its already infamous 2013 law banning ‘propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations’, making queer cinema increasingly becomes an act of defiance. In collaboration with Edinburgh Film Guild New Cinema, this screening presents recent Russian films variously depicting the surprising facets of an emerging LGBT culture, proving decidedly that the attempts at its repression have yet to defeat it.

Guests in attendance include Olgerta Kharitonova, editor of underground Russian lesbian journal Ostrov, and Dr Francesca Stella, Research Fellow at the University of Glasgow, who has worked extensively on LGBT rights in Russia.