III Side by Side LGBT International Film Festival Scheduled in St. Petersburg 15-23 October, 2010

In the region of 40 films from all corners of the globe will be screened at this year’s LGBT film festival in Saint Petersburg. The festival program will include recent winners of international films festivals as well as films from the past. The presence of sexual and gender minorities in the past, present and future as well as tolerance and homophobia in modern society in different countries are the major themes uniting the films.

The 2010 competition program includes documentaries, feature films and animation. During the festival days there will be the chance to meet Israeli director Tomer Heymann ("I Shot My Love"), Danish directors Iben Haahr Andersen and Minna Grooss (“Hello, my name is Lesbian”), Swedish animator Lasse Persson (”Bikini”, “Hand in Hand”), German actor Matthias Freihof, who played a major role in the film "Coming out" and the heroine of the Turkish documentary film "Me and Nuri Bala" Esmeray, along with many others.

As part of a special program of the festival "Love behind the Iron Curtain," rare films from former socialist countries will be screened, exploring homosexual love in a totalitarian system: "Another way" by Károly Makk (Hungary, 1982), as well as "Coming out" by Heiner Carow (DDR, 1989).

One of the main events of the festival will be the world premiere of the Russian film ”Piter Moskva” by Dmitry Gribanoff, a director from St. Petersburg.

At the festival there will be also discussions about acute social themes relating to sexual and gender minorities in contemporary Russian society.

And those who love art of different genres can expect exhibitions, concerts and other art events during the festival.