Ukraine held its first-ever LGBTIQ film festival last month, a significant sign of Ukrainian society’s increasing acceptance of the queer community, according to its organiser.
“Our attitude towards life has changed. At any moment, a Russian rocket can hit and that’s it,” the festival’s director, film curator Bohdan Zhuk, told openDemocracy.
“It is clear that the issue of human rights and the rights of LGBTIQ+ people are urgent now,” Zhuk said, adding that it was a case of ‘if not now, then when?’ He had been planning such a festival for some years, but the pandemic and Russia’s full-scale invasion had knocked his plans off-course.
