'Firebird' coming to theaters on April 29th
Tuesday, February 22, 2022 at 4:00PM by Nathaniel R
New gay film to tell you about. Roadside Attractions will be releasing the Cold War romantic drama Firebirds, on April 29th in theaters. Inspired by a true story, it involves the forbidden gay romance of a soldier and a pilot fighter in Estonia during the 1970s. British actor Tom Prior (Kingsman: Secret Service, The Theory of Everything) plays the Russian soldier and Ukrainian actor Oleg Zagorodnii plays the pilot fighter. Though the cast is international and it's shot in English the director, Peeter Rebane, making his narrative feature debut, is from Estonia...
It's wonderful to note that at least one of the actors here is gay. Tom Prior, who is 32, is openly gay and cowrote the film with the director.
We're glad this story is being told. 1977 when the film is set is not all that long ago in the course of history. It's sometimes alarming to note how cavalier queer people in the US are about their civil rights since a) we haven't had them for very long and b) they can easily be taken away given the far-right makeup of the Supreme Court at this juncture in history! What's more there are many places around the world where homosexuality is still a criminal offense. We know -- relevant to this film of course -- that countries from the former Soviet Union are often danger zones for queer people as we've seen on the news and in brilliant contemporary films like Welcome to Chechnya and And Then We Danced.
Firebird has been popular at LGBTQ film festivals. Will it be treated as warmly by regular critics in release? We shall see.
Reader Comments (6)
From foreignpolicy.com, four days ago.
I honestly don't understand the issue about: 'gay actors "should" play the gay characters'.
If we use that logic, the straight roles should it been played just for straight actors and that will limitate choices for any actor no matter gender or sexual orientation.
Tom Prior has one of the hottest Instagram accounts I've seen in a long time! W... O... W!
César -- i am not hard line about this. Ideally all talented actors could play any roles but until gay actors are afforded more opportunities it seems wrong that they aren't even hired for gay roles!
@NATHANIEL R, I honestly think that is very complex just to prove that there is a lack of opportunities to gay performers considering that not all of them are 'out' in first place.
I am a little distant from the Hollywood world right now but in México some careers of personalities from TV and movies weren't affected after they 'out' (Luis Gerardo Méndez, Alejandra Ley, Eduardo España, Alejandro de la Madrid, Maria Renee Prudencio, among others) and they play gay characters some times and others don't.
If we extend the discussion to transgender performers, they tend to be "condemned" to play transgender roles one time they end their physical transition because most times they are hired precisely just for being transgenders.
I know that this site is not entirely convinced with the genderless acting awards but I think that could be a great alternative to look far from the sexual identity and stay focused in a more nature way in the talent which is the most important ... and force to detractors to stay away polemics ; )
You are so right, Nathaniel. The U.S. Supreme Court has just agreed to hear the case of a woman refusing to build a website for a gay couple. It's a slippery slope.