The retrospective programs ‘Cinema of the ’90s’ and ‘Ukrainian Queer Short Films’ at Sunny Bunny include works by the Wachowskis, Pedro Almodóvar, Zhanna Ozirna, Oleksii Radynskyi, and Dmytro Moisieiev. The fourth queer film festival will take place in Kyiv from April 17 to 24
About the ‘Cinema of the ’90s’ retrospective
The program includes films by directors who worked during a ‘defining period for queer cinema’ — when LGBTQ+ acceptance was increasing, partly due to activism, and filmmaking was becoming more accessible.
‘Each film in this program, in its own way, reflects this progress and the evolution of queer cinema. Some of these directors have become masters and living classics of cinema as a whole. They are leading figures in film, and each has shaped the medium in their own way over the course of their careers. It is important for us to emphasize that these globally respected figures belong to the community and have had such a significant impact on the medium’, festival director Bohdan Zhuk says.
The first film in the program, ‘Bound’, is the debut feature by Lana and Lilly Wachowski, released in 1996. The film follows Corky, an ex-con who, while renovating an apartment in Chicago, meets her neighbors. Caesar is a paranoid gangster, and Violet is his partner, who immediately feels drawn to Corky.
‘The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert’ by Stephan Elliott premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 1994. The film follows the journey of two drag queens and a transgender woman across the desert to present their ‘unique cabaret style’.
French director Cyril Collard adapted ‘Savage Nights’ from his own novel of the same name. Collard was openly bisexual, HIV-positive, and one of the first French artists to speak publicly about it. The film centers on Jean, a young gay man leading an active sexual life. However, his relationships with women — particularly with Laura — lead him to realize his bisexuality. Now he must navigate a personal crisis and make a difficult choice: Laura or his boyfriend, Sami.
In 1993, the semi-autobiographical ‘Savage Nights’ won César Awards for Best Film, Best First Film, and Best Editing.
‘My Own Private Idaho’, starring Keanu Reeves and River Phoenix, is described by the Sunny Bunny organizers as one of the most important films of American independent cinema. It is a loose adaptation of Shakespeare’s ‘Henry IV’. The story follows Mike Waters, a street hustler with narcolepsy, and Scott Favor, the rebellious son of a mayor.
Together, they set out on a journey from Portland to Idaho, and later to Italy. Along the way, they sell their bodies until they attract the attention of a wealthy patron with specific sexual preferences.
Pedro Almodóvar’s ‘All About My Mother’ tells the story of Manuela, who sets out on a journey to find her son’s father after the tragic death of her teenage son. In a new city, she reunites with an old friend — a transgender sex worker — and forms bonds with a troubled actress and a pregnant nun living with HIV.
The film has received over 40 awards, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, a César, and a BAFTA for Best Foreign Language Film, as well as two awards at Cannes.
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About the ‘Ukrainian Queer Short Films’ program
The Ukrainian queer retrospective program at Sunny Bunny will be presented for the first time. Within it, the curators have brought together fiction and documentary films on LGBTQ+ themes from the past 17 years. The films explore the lives of queer people in previous decades and in the USSR.
‘Sex, Мedicated, Rock-n-Roll’ is a 2014 short film by Anatolii Bielov, set to a song by his own band Liudska Podoba, and is considered one of the first statements on LGBTQ+ themes in contemporary Ukraine. ‘Happy Years’ by Svitlana Shymko and Halyna Yarmanova tells the stories of lesbians who lived in Ukraine during the late Soviet period.
The documentary ‘Exarch’ by Nadiia Parfan and Mariia Stoianova tells the story of a young Orthodox priest who decides to leave the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, ‘where there had become too much intolerance and hypocrisy’, to engage with gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people, as well as people living with AIDS.
The program also features two short films by Zhanna Ozirna. In ‘Kittens’, a couple from Lviv dreams of motherhood but faces the barriers of conservative societal norms and the lack of rights for queer individuals. The documentary ‘Bond’ tells the story of a coming-out that lasted a year. Oleksii Radynskyi’s ‘Landslide’ is set in Kyiv in 2016. The film follows artists, performers, engineers, and musicians who create a ‘utopian space’ in a garage cooperative on the abandoned Petrivska Street.
Other films in the retrospective include ‘The Secret, the Girl and the Boy’ by Oksana Kazmina, ‘Aftertaste’ by Yura Katynskyi, ‘Chacho’ by Vitalii Havura, ‘Goodbye, Sveta’ by director Nastia Kanarova, ‘Sad Portraits’ by Vitalii Kikot, and ‘Eclipse of My Heart’ by Anzhelika Ustymenko.
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All of them are award-winners and participants of Molodist, KISFF, the Odesa International Film Festival, Sunny Bunny, and other Ukrainian and international film festivals.
Festival passes for Sunny Bunny 2026 can be purchased via the link.
