The opening film of the second SUNNY BUNNY will be Julio Torres’s Problemista. The actor and writer of Saturday Night Live takes the roles of both director and lead actor in his first feature film. The star-studded cast includes Tilda Swinton, Isabella Rossellini, Greta Lee, and rap artist RZA. The film reimagines the so-called American Dream when an aspiring toymaker from El Salvador tries to make his way to the top in New York.

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Within the Documentary program, the documentary film Trans Runaways directed by an independent filmmaker and LGBTQ+ activist Zha Babaieva will have its national premiere. The film follows transgender activists and refugees from Ukraine as they try to settle down in Berlin during the full-scale Russian aggression and genocide in Ukraine. Once Hanna starts noticing Kyrylo’s “I’m out of politics” narratives, the conflict between them grows more serious.

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German docu-fiction Life Is Not a Competition but I’m Winning is a Queer Lion nominee and jury’s prize winner at Venice Critics Week. The movie tells about a collective of queer athletes set out to honor those who were excluded from the winners’ podium. Together they create a radical utopia far from the rigid gender rules in competitive sports.

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Israeli film Taboo: Amos Gutmann participated in the International Film Festival Rotterdam and Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival (the leading film forum for documentary cinema). The film is dedicated to queer cinema pioneer director Amos Gutmann, who passed away too early in his career because of AIDS.  

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Documentary musical Reas introduces the audience to the reality of queer community life in Buenos Aires jail and a rock band created there. Lola Arias is a writer, theater, and film director, and her film was nominated for the Teddy Award at this year’s Berlinale and received two awards at the Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival.

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Hidden Master: The Legacy of George Platt Lynes is a documentary by an acclaimed artist, fashion, and advertising icon Sam Shahid, a creative director of Calvin Klein, and a person behind Banana Republic’s new start. Shahid directs a documentary for the first time in 35 years, choosing to talk about a less-acknowledged photographer, whose artistic legacy is only now starting to get well-deserved recognition.

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Desire Lines radically reframes transmasculine sexuality and history. The work of trans director Jules Rosskam participated in the celebrated independent film festival Sundance and received the Silver Alexander award in the Film Forward International Competition at the Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival

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Chasing Chasing Amy participated in many film festivals, including the BFI London Film Festival and Cleveland International Film Festival, and received an award at the famous queer film festival Frameline in San Francisco. It explores the transformational impact of a ‘90s rom-com on a 12-year-old kid from Kansas, coming of age and contending with queer identity. For young Sav Rodgers, the Kevin Smith cult classic, Chasing Amy, became a life raft. As Rodgers examines the film and its making as a cornerstone of LGBTQ+ cinema, he finds himself at a complicated crossroads.

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AKOE/AMFI: The Story of a Revolution (*Just to Sleep on Their Chest) received the Audience Award as the best Greek film at the Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival. The film talks about the history of A.K.O.E. — the Greek Homosexual Liberation Movement founded at the end of the 1970s.

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Documentaries:

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Trans Runaways, Zha Babaieva, Ukraine, 2023, 92’

Life Is Not a Competition but I'm Winning, Julia Fuhr Mann, Germany, 2023, 79’

Taboo: Amos Gutmann, Shauly Melamed, Israel, 2024, 76’

Reas, Lola Arias, Argentina, Germany, Switzerland, 2024, 82’

Hidden Master: The Legacy of George Platt Lynes, Sam Shahid, USA, 2023, 96’

Desire Lines, Jules Rosskam, USA, 2024, 83’

Chasing Chasing Amy, Sav Rodgers, USA, 2023, 95’

AKOE/AMFI: The Story of a Revolution (*Just to Sleep on their Chest), Iossif Vardakis, Greece, 2023, 73’

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Film stills.

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As a tradition, SUNNY BUNNY prepared a short program of queen movies for teens. This year, the list includes a Spanish-German film about lonely queer teens and the story of discovering one’s identity during the summer break. Within the program, an animated movie, Freshwater Bees, will have its international premiere.

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Queerby program:

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Fourteen, Daniel Sánchez López, Spain, Germany, 2023, 12’

Water Hazard, Alexander David, Portugal, 2023, 23’

Freshwater Bees, Emma Kanouté, Belgium, 2023, 9’

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The program NEIGHBORQUEER is dedicated to queer films from Eastern and Central Europe. It provides the audience with a unique opportunity to see their closest neighbors creating LGBTQ+ cinema.

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It includes a Czech documentary, features, and animation short films program from Mezipatra — Mezipatra QFF presents: Short and Proud - Young Czech Cinema.

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At the same time, NEIGHBORQUEER presents three full-length feature films. Lithuanian movie The Writer, a participant of the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, follows two friends meeting in New York for the first time in 30 years. Polish drama Elephant, one of the winners of the Gdynia Film Festival, tells the story of the first love between two young men. First love will force one of them to decide if he’s ready to choose his freedom above family obligations.

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Marija Kavtaradze’s romantic drama Slow was a Lithuanian candidate at this year’s Oscar ceremony in the Best International Feature Film category. Marija Kavtaradze also received a directorial award at the Sundance Film Festival. The movie investigates the unique topic of asexuality, the one that movies rarely show.

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NEIGHBORQUEER films:

Bunk, Piotr Jasiński, Czech Republic, 2023, 21’

Peacock, Ondřej Hudeček, Czech Republic, 2015, 26’

Days off, Filip Blažek, Czech Republic, 2018, 11’

about-hair, Pepa Lubojacki, Czech Republic, 2019, 17’

no bites, Alex Sihelsk, Czech Republic, 2022, 21’

The Writer, Romas Zabarauskas, Lithuania, 2023, 86’

Elephant, Kamil Krawczycki, Poland, 2022, 94’

Slow, Marija Kavtaradze, Lithuania, Spain, Sweden, 2023, 108’

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See the complete program.

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Festival catalog is accessible via the link.

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The queer-cinema festival SUNNY BUNNY will run from 19 to 26 April.

You can buy a Festival Pass and tickets.

Follow us instagram, Facebook і TikTok.

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Festival Partners:

Heinrich Böll Foundation

International Renaissance Foundation

The Embassy of Italy and the Italian Institute of Culture in Ukraine

Ukrainian software company appflame

Ukrainian State Film Agency

USAID «Transformation of Communications» project (TSA) - implementing innovative communication initiatives

Public organization Fulcrum UA

Platform of public associations Rizni.Rivni

Non-profit educational and preventive project Drugstore

Ukrainian-Danish Youth House

Youth movement Teenergizer

Public organization Insight

Marsh Zhinok

Omelia Atelier

Ukrainian fashion brand FROLOV

Ukrainian socks brand Noskar

HVLV bar

Modern Ukrainian cuisine restaurant «Hlek»

Café-bistro tisto.kyiv

Craft donut shop Ponchyk Boy

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Медіапартнери:

Suspilne Culture

TyKyiv

Liroom

DTF Magazine

The Village Ukraine

New Ukrainian Cinema

Svidomi Media

Detector Media

Bazilik Media

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