OUT OF HIDING

Film event and discussion with Natalia Sharandak

Two films from the spirit of optimism after Perestroika in St. Petersburg

11.10.2025
4 p.m.
Heiligengeisthof 3 (entrance: Faule Grube)
Recommended donation € 5.00
Registration at: veranstaltungen@die-beginen-rostock.de

White nights in light blue and pink
Documentary about the 1st CSD in St. Petersburg
Mahide Lein & Dorothea Etzler, 1997, 20 min.

An die Freundinnen
Documentary about lesbian women in the former SU
Natalja Sharandak, 1993, 56 min.

Followed by a film talk and discussion on the current situation in Russia with Natalja Sharandak

in cooperation with Rostocker Uferfrauen and rat&tat e.V.

White Nights in Light Blue and Pink
In Russia, lesbians are called 'pink' and gays 'light blue'.
As part of the German-Russian lesbian-gay cultural exchange, 1992 - 1995 in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Berlin, organized by Tchaikovsky-Fonds & Freundinnen (St. Petersburg) and Mahide Lein & Andreas Strohfeldt (Berlin), footage of the 3-day 1st CSD is shown, where 55 activists and artists* from Berlin traveled along.
The documentary shows the enthusiasm of the first kisses in the exciting twilight and exuberant dancing with a diverse German-Russian cultural, workshop and video program.

To the friends
The filming of the movie began in mid-June 1992 in St. Petersburg, at the same time as the 1st CSD in Russia. The open and relaxed atmosphere at the CSD made many Russian lesbian women less afraid of the public eye and they were willing to be interviewed. The documentary was completed in January 1993 and shows very personal interviews with women who grew up in the Brezhnev era.
The film's title tune is a poem by Marina Tsvetaeva from the cycle "The Girlfriend", dedicated to the poet Sophia Parnok. The title of the film alludes to this cycle of poems.