Ukraine Diary: Kiev hosts Ukraine’s first-ever LGBTQ film festival.

This is one in an occasional series of posts about life amid the war in Ukraine.

KYIV, Ukraine – On a gray and rainy afternoon, about 35 people huddled in velvety red seats in a small, cramped underground cinema. Two worn rainbow umbrellas.

When the lights went down, the cartoon images flashing on screen reminded us that this was a unique moment in time: a soldier preparing for war – then kissing another soldier of the same sex.

The sold-out screening, a retrospective of a Ukrainian queer short film, was one of dozens held in Kiev as part of the country’s first-ever queer film festival. A milestone in itself, the seven-day event, which ends on Wednesday, also took place during a war — one that human rights defenders say has increased the visibility and acceptance of the LGBTQ community.

“It somehow feels freer” since Russia invaded, said the festival’s director, Bohdan Zhuk, 34. “I think we feel more powerful. I definitely do.”

LGBTQ people in Ukraine are routinely discriminated against Pride events have been in the country in the past marred by threats and violence by anti-gay demonstrators and far-right groups. But in the 16 months since the war began, advocates say the sight of LGBTQ people in uniform fighting Russian invaders appears to be contributed to acceptance.

“It is also more generally the wider acceptance of realizing that we have one common enemy,” said Mr. Zhuk. And those aren’t, you know, the gays or the lesbians or “strange people.”

“It’s the Russians who are trying to kill us all,” he said.

The Sunny Bunny LGBTQIA+ Film Festival is an offshoot of the Molodistic International Festival, which started in 1970 and is dedicated to promoting young filmmakers. Mr. Zhuk said he had been thinking about hosting an LGBTQIA+ festival for a few years but was delayed by the pandemic.

A large-scale invasion may also not seem like an appropriate time. Although it was “very difficult to organize it,” Mr. Zhuk, “is it also the right time to do it.”

War affects marginalized groups differently — LGBTQ members of the military, for example, don’t have the same protections as straight soldiers. The conversations surrounding the more than 60 films screened at the festival are crucial, he said.

Ukraine does not recognize marriage rights for same-sex couples, nor does it have a statute that allows them to enter into civil unions. The call to give those couples equal rights has grown in part because of the sacrifices made by LGBTQ soldiers in the war.

The festival also gives Ukraine’s queer community a way to celebrate Pride Month at a time when parades are banned in the country for security reasons.

Far-right groups are also a threat – the Zhovten Cinema, which hosts the festival, was set on fire in 2014 at an LGBTQ movie screening – and the concern is high that Sunny Bunny could be targeted.

“Fortunately, things have gone well so far,” said Mr. Zhuk, who wore all black except for a small yellow pin from an anti-tank barricade known as a ‘hedgehog’ and a shoulder bag that read QUEER in white letters. The response has been “mostly great and wonderful and supportive,” he added.

He attributed that to progress both before the full-scale war and “more progress in the past year,” as President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine raising the prospect of civil partnerships. But there is still more work to be done, he said, which is why the festival is “really needed.”

In addition to providing the opportunity to see films that might otherwise be unavailable, the festival aims to increase queer visibility and promote wider acceptance in a perilous time.

“We are currently in a state of war,” said 20-year-old Anastasia Karpenko as she sat outside Zhovten Cinema. “We shouldn’t be fighting among ourselves, among our people.”

The festival was important, she said, to “show that we are human beings.”

“Just people,” she added emphatically in English.

Brendan Hoffman And Stanislav Kozliuk reporting contributed.