DESCRIPTION

This film is very personal and important to me not only as for a filmmaker, for a Russian , but for a person who sometime faces the same problems that my characters do. Being far from home and separated from the family and friends, living in another county with totally different mentality and trying to find a new life in America - these are the problems that Sandro, Vadim and Jonathan are trying to solve in their own way. I feel very attached to the story and to the question that this dil is raising even though i am not gay myself. I think it's not necessarily all about lack of LGBT rights in Russia, it is also a film about people, who was strong enough to oppose themselves to the majority of Russian traditional society and was brave enough to come out and speak up about intolerance, violence towards gay people in Russia. As i said, it is very personal film to me because i have a lot of gay friends, I saw how the suffered back in Russia, how they found better life here, in the US. I admire them a lot for being brave and not to "follow" but to "fight for". I do not agree with Russian brutal society attitude towards gays and the injustice on the state level. I do think that people need to speak up and support gay right in Russia. I believe my film is making a small step in trying to achieve this goal.


SYNOPSIS:
Fade in to the Brooklyn Bridge, the camera slowly slides over showing the New York City skyline, prominent is the newly erected World Trade Center. As the camera moves over we see a young, handsome man standing and smoking a cigarette, Sandro Masmanidi. He is silently thinking and contemplating ideas in his mind. Instantly we see flashes of archival footage depicting a large crowd of cameras centered on a man holding a large rainbow flag. A close up of Sandro, smoking, still in deep thought are intercut with more archival footage from Russia. The Russian footage shows an LGBT protest, which erupts into violence against both the hetro and homosexual protesters. Sandro tells us how he is trying hard to find a place for himself here in America, as well as struggling to become a prominent designer after leaving Russia.
We transition both locations and time over to Los Angeles in the summer of 2013, where two young men are seen in a beautiful West Hollywood apartment. Vadim Dardagani and Jonathan Looper, are an inter-national couple, Vadim being from Russia and Jonathan being from America. Vadim and Jonathan met and subsequently feel in love during their time at their Masters in acting program. However their love is short lived with Vadim having to return to Russia within the year due to his visa coming to an end. The couple desperately tries to find a way to keep him in the country but find no results. Meeting immigration attorneys they find no hope in marriage as the Defense of Marriage Act prevents them from receiving federal benefits. Making matters worse, Vadim finds difficulty in finding work as an actor, ruling out a work visa. As they battle the thoughts of losing each other, Vadim discovers that Russia is passing a serious of laws that are barring same sex relations.