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homo@lv

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This movie is currently playing at film festivals.

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Synopsis

This accomplished and startling documentary recounts the various efforts of Latvian gays and lesbians to organize a pride march in a country where many virulently oppose them.

Review

A documentary on LGBT rights for film fans who don’t watch gay rights documentaries!

As LGBT pride and rights organizations flourish in much of Europe, this eye-opening and entertaining documentary reveals that that is definitely not the case in the former Soviet-bloc country of Latvia.

Filmmaker Kaspars Goba spent five years following the often violent reaction to the planning of gay pride events. It began with two well-meaning young gay men in the capital city of Riga who planned to organize the first LGBT rights march in the country. But even the announcement of the event is met with threats, violence, and legal battles. How do these two men react to the vitriolic atmosphere? They cancel the parade.

With the organization now in disarray, it takes a grass roots effort by a diverse group of gays and lesbians to pick up the fight. They not only face the same opposition but get criticism from the original organizers, who become unlikely villains. Will the parade happen? And if it does, will there be violence?

This is a riveting, well-told account of one country’s internal battle for LGBT rights, and a film that forces one to realize how far our community still has to go.

-- Raymond Murray

Keywords

Documentary/Documentaries, Gay Male, Gay/Lesbian, GLBT Creator / Performer / Writer, Homophobia/Negative Portrayal, International, Lesbian, Politics, Queer Politics & Theory

Genres

Documentary

Customer Reviews

Gay in Latvia

Amos Lassen wrote on 08/25/2011:

I never thought I would see a movie about the LGBT community in Latvia and yet here one is. We see the struggles they endure to organize a Gay Pride parade in a country that totally opposes them and their existence.
As the LGBT community makes progress in many parts of the world, this is not the case in Latvia. Kaspars Goba, the filmmaker, has been documenting the reactions in Latvia to the planning of a Pride event and gives us a look at what has been going on there. Everything started when two men from Riga in the summer of 2005 began to plan a Pride event—the first ever LGBT march in the country and when the march was announced, it caused violence and threats as well as legal battles. The parade was cancelled.
That cancellation caused the rights movement to fall apart and a new group of gays and lesbians picked up what was left. They soon found the same opposition but this time the original organizers began to criticize them. Now the question is not only if the parade will happen but will there be violence if it does?
We who live in the “free world” have had our troubles trying to gain LGBT rights but I am sure that none of us have experienced anything like our Latvian brothers and sisters are going through. The film shows us Latvia’s internal war about human rights and we are really made aware of how far all of us still have to go.
The original organizers had no idea how their idea would divide Latvians and they went through a living hell which included be showered with human feces and holy water. Families were wrecked and split apart, people lost jobs and a minister was expelled from his church for free thinking. What was surprising was that the West came to support both sides and they soon heard taunts that Jesus and the Devil were at work and cries for patriotism and human rights were heard all over the country.
Of course the media covered it all and we began to wonder if this was all because someone thought that all of this violence would be helpful as would setting one against the other. The footage in this film is amazing and we get a deep look at the opinions and stories of people on both sides of the conflict. We are able to see different perspectives and the role “that politicians play in manipulating people’s ideals”. I just wonder if this is the price that must be paid to bring democracy to Latvia.
The clip below is not from the film but it is froma Latvian Pride event.