WE WILL BECOME BETTER

TitleWE WILL BECOME BETTER
BrandRUSSIAN LGBT+ NETWORK
Product/ServiceLEGAL SUPPORT
Category A04. Production Design / Art Direction
Entrant VOSKHOD Ekaterinburg, RUSSIA
Idea Creation VOSKHOD Ekaterinburg, RUSSIA
Production DADDY'S FILM Moscow, RUSSIA
Production 2 SPOT Moscow, RUSSIA
Credits
Name Company Position
Andrei Gubaidullin Voskhod Creative Director
Andzej Gavriss HALAL Amsterdam Director
Evgeny Primachenko Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam Creative Director
Andrey Nikolaev WPA / SNDCT DP
Julija Fricsone-Gavriss COSMIC Production Designer
Egor Solomatin Daddy’s Film Production Executive producer
Mikhail Marizov Spot Executive producer

Write a short summary of what happens in the film

Throughout the film, two men are dancing together. However, physically they are in different locations in their own apartments. One of the men is an artist living in an old historical apartment in the center of Moscow; the other is an art buyer living in a modern apartment in a prestigious Moscow-City housing complex. They can be together only in the space of their imagination and dreams. At the end of the video the slogan appears: Love is everyone’s right.

Cultural / Context information for the jury

In July 2020, Vladimir Putin changed the Russian constitution to ban same-sex marriage with an amendment that defines marriage as between a man and woman. 77% of the country’s population supported the change. At the same time, Gay Propaganda law passed in 2013 actively functions in Russia. It criminalises representations of LGBTQIA+ community and their relationships, supposedly to protect children from being exposed to homosexuality. It has also encouraged a wave of hate crimes that continue to this day. One year on from the constitutional change, this film was released to challenge these offensive portrayals of same-sex relationship. By making and releasing the film we took the risk of essentially breaking the Gay Propaganda law. This is the first Russian LGBTQIA+ film in years that actually portrays a gay relationship and the country’s first anti-homophobic project aimed at decreasing the amount of hatred towards the community.

Tell the jury about the production design / art direction. You may wish to comment on choices, challenges or effects.

The project’s PD wanted sets and props to speak to the viewer about the characters’ personalities, portray their subconsciousness, fears, dreams and true nature. The idea was that one of the men (the first appearing in the film) is hiding his true identity, the other one is openly gay and that’s where their relationships got so complicated. This direction opened a new path of inspiration for props, colour palette and wardrobe. There are a lot of details that connect the men’s apartments together. Symbolism plays a big part in the film. The Orthodox Church does not approve same sex relationships and stands strongly against the LQBTQ community. That’s why we decided to add a few enigmatic messages in our film, like crucifixion marks on the first guy’s hands, both of them walking on water, and the image of scales on top of the door that leads to the black void.