The new Indian LGBT movie LOEV that is currently making waves on the Film Festival circuit right now is the latest in an extraordinary growing movement of gay themed films being made in countries where homosexuality is either still illegal, or where even if gay men and women may no longer be legal prosecuted for their sexuality, they are still subject to undue harassment and persecution. queerguru takes a look at these pioneering movies that are NOT WELCOME BACK HOME.
1) India : Loev : This rather touching and gentle gay drama which is a very impressive debut from newbie filmmaker Sudanashu Saria, takes on an even greater than usual resonance by the mere fact that it is set in India where homosexuality is still illegal. However in fact the movie, evidently shot very much on the down-low, showcases how these gay men in contemporary Indian society seem totally at ease with their sexuality, and the story that subsequently unfolds focuses intently on their own relationships with each other. The movie also served as the filmmakers own public ‘coming out’.
2) Lebanon. Out Loud : Four young men have been best friends forever and what keeps them together is their need to help each other. Rami in particular needs to get away from his family since his father has found out that he is gay, and he needs his friends support when his boyfriend Zaid arrives battered and bruised and on the run from his Cousins who are determined to finish him off once and for all rather than have his homosexuality taint the whole family.
With its simple plot this movie from Lebanese filmmaker Samer Daboul has the sheer audacity to deal with human rights, gay rights, women’s rights and freedom of speech in a country that is not just sorely lacking in all of them, but they are for the most part, strictly taboo. How Daboul got the official permits to shoot his movie in Lebanon is a total mystery but he and the cast and the entire crew who had been given full Military Protection, still put their lives in danger just to film this.
Available on ITunes
3) Saudi Arabia : A Sinner In Mecca . Out gay Muslim filmmaker Parvez Sharma has followed his award -winning documentary ‘A Jihad For Love’ with an even more daring look at what it takes to renew his faith when he goes to Mecca for a sacred pilgrimage called a Hajj. Every Muslim is expected to do this at least once in their lifetime as it is their way of being forgiven for all their sins by Allah. The trouble is that it takes place in the fiercely conservative kingdom of Saudi Arabia where homosexuality is not only forbidden, but it is a crime that is still punishable to this very day by beheading. To make his first visit there even more dangerous, Sharma planned to film the whole thing on his cellphone even though any type of recording in the holy of holy’s places he was visiting was very strictly forbidden.
4) Iran : Circumstance . This coming-of-age story tells of two teenage girls, who are best friends, dealing with all the restrictions of growing up in Iran today. The girls are exploring their emerging sexuality as they become part of Tehran’s underground party scene, when their reformed drug addict brother becomes a religious zealot and joins the infamous Morality Police which puts their lives in danger. The movie is banned back in Iran.
Available streaming on Amazon
5) Russia : Stand . Anton and his boyfriend Vlad are driving through Moscow one evening when they witness some thugs beating up a man which looks to them like another gay bashing. Anton wants to stop and help but Vlad, sensing that the roughnecks would turn on them too, insists in driving on. Next day they learn from the TV news that the man is the latest victim in a whole spate of hate crimes in the city, and he is now dying. Anton resolves to get to the bottom of the matter when the Police refuse to investigate. To them its just another dead faggot, so the case is closed. So a very determined Anton, a fervent LGBT activist, turns into an amateur sleuth, and Vlad, somewhat reluctantly, tags along
Vlad is right to be concerned as in the current heinous climate that has flourished after President Putin’s new punitive anti-gay laws, there cannot possibly be a good outcome at all with this scenario.
Available streaming on Amazon
6) Morocco : Salvation Army aka L’Armee Du Salut. This quiet measured semi-autobiographical piece is by Abdellah Taia, who was the first Moroccan writer to ever come out publicly. This is his debut movie and is the story of how the freedom he first found as gay man living in Casablanca was not the one he really wanted at all. Taia claims that this movie is first to ever have a gay Arab protagonist, and although it has a finely tuned Moroccan sensitivity to it …. especially with all of the reticence to voice things but just imply them …. it is easy for audiences to be able to relate too, especially gay ones.
Available streaming on Amazon
7) Algiers : Bambi This is the story of a remarkable woman and her transformation from little Algerian boy to respected Parisian Literature Professor via Music Hall Star is the stuff that Hollywood would love to fictionalize to grab an Oscar. This is however a very exceptional real story of an immensely brave and resourceful woman that is utterly spellbinding. It quite deservedly won filmmaker Sebastian Lifschitz the ‘Teddy Award for Best LGBT Documentary’ at the Berlin International Film Festival. Meanwhile being gay in Algiers is still illegal and is punishable by a prison sentence.
8) First Nation : Fire Song. Adam Garnet Jones has set his feature film, a very tender coming-of-age drama, in a First Nation reservation in the North of Canada where he also hails from, and which he made with an entire cast of indigenous locals. It is a very compelling resolute tale that sheds a light on a community that we rarely see as the setting for a ‘gay drama’ , and what is equally refreshing it is devoid of any of the usual queer stereotypes. Finding your own path as a young person in this tough environment is far from easy, and adding confusions about sexuality to the mix, certainly doesn’t help. Homosexuality is not illegal in the Reservation but homophobia is so rampant that its often manifests into physical violent abuse.
9) Venezuela : My Straight Son Whilst being gay is not illegal here, as one of the most conservative South American countries it is still not accepted by the vast majority of the people who like to widely use the derogatory term ‘marico’. This sweet, funny and immensely moving tale actually starts of with a vicious gay bashing, has two sets of rampant homophobic parents and by the end of all the melodrama director/writer Miguel Ferrari has insures that he covered the whole gamut of social issues from gay parenting and partners rights to gender identity.
Available streaming on Amazon
10) Turkey : Mixed Kebab The tale of a young Turkish/Belgian gay man who doesn’t accept his sexuality until he has been sent back to Turkey for an arranged marriage. It’s not too late however to avoid taking a bride even though they both go back to Belgium together, but the price he has to pay to walk away is higher than he ever expected or wanted. Like most Turkish LGBT themed movies, it has the inevitable sad ending.
With the latest Government moving Turkey more to the extreme edge, there is grave concern that LGBT rights are rapidly deteriorating as witnessed with the Police firing water canons, tear gas and rubber bullets to break up last summer’s Pride Parade in Istanbul.
Available streaming on Amazon
