The romantic war drama film Firebird hit theaters last April 29, directed, co-written, and co-produced by Peeter Rebane in his feature directorial debut, and is based on Sergey Fetisov’s memoir The Story of Roman. Set at the height of the Cold War, it follows the story of a young soldier who forms a forbidden relationship with a fighter pilot. The film stars Tom Prior, Oleg Zagorodnii, and Diana Pozharskaya. The film premiered last year at several LGBTQ+ Film Festivals including the 35th BFI Flare: London Lgbtiq+ Film Festival and at 45th Frameline: San Francisco International LGBTQ+ Film Festival where it
Five Movies To Watch When You’re Done With “Firebird”...
Five Movies To Watch When You’re Done With “Firebird”...
- 6/19/2022
- by A.E. Oats
- TVovermind.com
by Nathaniel R
Writer/Director Peeter Rebane (left) and his narrative feature debut "Firebird"
Sometimes timelessness is a curse. We don't neccessarily want period pieces about forbidden oppressed gay romances to feel especially resonate in the now. Neverthless that's what's happened with Firebird. Peeter Rebane's narrative debut, which recently opened in select cities, tells the true story of a gay soldier and his clandestine romance with a fighter pilot in a Russian airforce base in Estonia during the Cold War. The film has been in the works for ten years but in the interim Russian culture has become more virulently anti-gay (stoked by homophobic 'strong-man' Putin) and aggressive about it; please see the tremendous documentary Welcome to Chechnya if you haven't. At the moment Russia is also waging war on Ukraine which adds yet more unexpected charge to the film since one of the two leads playing Russian military men,...
Writer/Director Peeter Rebane (left) and his narrative feature debut "Firebird"
Sometimes timelessness is a curse. We don't neccessarily want period pieces about forbidden oppressed gay romances to feel especially resonate in the now. Neverthless that's what's happened with Firebird. Peeter Rebane's narrative debut, which recently opened in select cities, tells the true story of a gay soldier and his clandestine romance with a fighter pilot in a Russian airforce base in Estonia during the Cold War. The film has been in the works for ten years but in the interim Russian culture has become more virulently anti-gay (stoked by homophobic 'strong-man' Putin) and aggressive about it; please see the tremendous documentary Welcome to Chechnya if you haven't. At the moment Russia is also waging war on Ukraine which adds yet more unexpected charge to the film since one of the two leads playing Russian military men,...
- 5/11/2022
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Tom Prior and Oleg Zagorodnii, in the romantic thriller Firebird. Courtesy of Roadside Attractions.
Set in Cold War-era Estonia, then occupied by the Soviet Union, a two young men, a soldier and a pilot, fall in love, a dangerous relationship forbidden by homophobic law, in the English-language romantic thriller/drama Firebird. Appropriately, this moving film is debuting in St. Louis just as Cinema St. Louis’ QFest, its celebration of gay-themed film, kicks off on Friday, April 29.
Sergey (Tom Prior), Luisa (Diana Pozharskaya) and Volodja (Jake Thomas Henderson) are an inseparable trio, in military service at the Soviet Air Force base in Estonia, and as the film opens, the three friends have sneaked off to swim on the rocky coast. When a Soviet security patrol catches them, Volodja’s family connections keep them out of trouble but the tension of living in 1977 Soviet-occupied Estonia is made clear. Also made clear in the scene,...
Set in Cold War-era Estonia, then occupied by the Soviet Union, a two young men, a soldier and a pilot, fall in love, a dangerous relationship forbidden by homophobic law, in the English-language romantic thriller/drama Firebird. Appropriately, this moving film is debuting in St. Louis just as Cinema St. Louis’ QFest, its celebration of gay-themed film, kicks off on Friday, April 29.
Sergey (Tom Prior), Luisa (Diana Pozharskaya) and Volodja (Jake Thomas Henderson) are an inseparable trio, in military service at the Soviet Air Force base in Estonia, and as the film opens, the three friends have sneaked off to swim on the rocky coast. When a Soviet security patrol catches them, Volodja’s family connections keep them out of trouble but the tension of living in 1977 Soviet-occupied Estonia is made clear. Also made clear in the scene,...
- 4/29/2022
- by Cate Marquis
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Chicago – With the subject of Russia at the top of the news, the roots of their oppressive attitudes are revealed in the new film “Firebird,” opening this Friday April 29th. The fascinating based-on-truth story is set in the Cold War era Soviet Union, and was co-written – with director Peeter Rebane – by Tom Prior, who also portrays Sergey, one of the lead roles in the film.
Rating: 4.0/5.0
Sergey is a private in the Soviet Air Force in the 1970s, working in a flight group that is anchored by pilot and senior officer Roman (Oleg Zagorodnii), while at the same time becoming a confidant and friend to a woman officer named Luisa (Diana Pozharskaya). When Roman and Sergey begin an illegal (in the Soviet Union at the time) love affair, the opportunity for blackmail and expulsion floats to the surface. To divert attention, Roman begins an affair with Luisa, and this love...
Rating: 4.0/5.0
Sergey is a private in the Soviet Air Force in the 1970s, working in a flight group that is anchored by pilot and senior officer Roman (Oleg Zagorodnii), while at the same time becoming a confidant and friend to a woman officer named Luisa (Diana Pozharskaya). When Roman and Sergey begin an illegal (in the Soviet Union at the time) love affair, the opportunity for blackmail and expulsion floats to the surface. To divert attention, Roman begins an affair with Luisa, and this love...
- 4/29/2022
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
“Firebird,” the first narrative feature by director Peeter Rebane, is clearly a labor of love. It is based on a 1996 memoir by the Russian actor Sergey Fetisov called “A Tale About Roman,” which details a forbidden love affair he had with a handsome fighter pilot on a Soviet air base in Estonia in the 1970s.
Rebane co-wrote the script with Tom Prior, an English actor (“Kingsman: The Secret Service”) who stars as Sergey in the film, and it took them many years to get “Firebird” made and released. Whether all this effort was worthwhile is open to question.
The first half of “Firebird,” set on the base, takes its time to let us see the slow-building attraction between Prior’s Sergey and Roman (Oleg Zagorodnii). Sergey likes to take photographs, and when he first sees Roman, he can’t help but let his camera linger over this man’s eyelashes,...
Rebane co-wrote the script with Tom Prior, an English actor (“Kingsman: The Secret Service”) who stars as Sergey in the film, and it took them many years to get “Firebird” made and released. Whether all this effort was worthwhile is open to question.
The first half of “Firebird,” set on the base, takes its time to let us see the slow-building attraction between Prior’s Sergey and Roman (Oleg Zagorodnii). Sergey likes to take photographs, and when he first sees Roman, he can’t help but let his camera linger over this man’s eyelashes,...
- 4/28/2022
- by Dan Callahan
- The Wrap
Not that we needed a reminder, but Russia’s recent human rights violations — while flagrant — are sadly not a new phenomenon. David France’s “Welcome to Chechnya” documented the horrific genocide being waged against LGBTQ people in what is now a Russian Republic, a terrifying sign of what could lay in store for LGBTQ Ukrainians. Taking an altogether different tack, the stately period drama “Firebird” tells the true story of an ill-fated military romance between two men in Soviet-occupied Estonia during the late 1970s and early ’80s.
Based on a memoir by Sergey Fetisov, the steamy Cold War drama The film’s tragic throughline won’t break any molds, but with smoldering performances by its two strapping young leads, the target audience is unlikely to care.
Despite the heat of its title, “Firebird” begins in the water as three lithe bodies splash playfully in a dark sea. The horseplay is...
Based on a memoir by Sergey Fetisov, the steamy Cold War drama The film’s tragic throughline won’t break any molds, but with smoldering performances by its two strapping young leads, the target audience is unlikely to care.
Despite the heat of its title, “Firebird” begins in the water as three lithe bodies splash playfully in a dark sea. The horseplay is...
- 4/28/2022
- by Jude Dry
- Indiewire
At a crucial point in “Firebird,” two perfectly chiseled servicemen steal away from the Soviet Air Force base where they’re stationed for a skinny dip in the Baltic Sea. Behind craggy rocks and away from prying eyes, they kiss, before one gives the other a charged underwater handjob; as they jointly climax, director Peeter Rebane cuts to an image of two fighter jets blazing overhead, the lovers’ clenched moans drowned in a roaring sonic boom. Subtlety is in short supply in “Firebird,” a swooning gay romance that firmly supplants “Top Gun” as the queerest film ever set in the air force; it may even top Tony Scott’s closeted kitschfest for most phallic military imagery per frame.
But if such isolated moments of hot-and-bothered vulgarity suggest a winking exercise in heightened horniness, “Firebird’s” story of forbidden love in an oppressive authoritarian regime is otherwise played, for want of a better word,...
But if such isolated moments of hot-and-bothered vulgarity suggest a winking exercise in heightened horniness, “Firebird’s” story of forbidden love in an oppressive authoritarian regime is otherwise played, for want of a better word,...
- 4/28/2022
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
“Firebird,” the debut feature from Peeter Rebane, is a clockwork romance about the secret love affair between Private Sergey Serebrennikov (Tom Prior) and his superior, Lieutenant Roman Matvejev (Oleg Zagorodnii), in the cutting cold of a Soviet-Estonian Air Force base. Teeming with all the usual corny plot twists and bromidic constructs, “Firebird” feels routine, straight from the assembly line, or whipped up in Romance Movies 101.
Continue reading ‘Firebird’ Review: Peeter Rebane’s Gay Cold War Romance Feels All Too Routine at The Playlist.
Continue reading ‘Firebird’ Review: Peeter Rebane’s Gay Cold War Romance Feels All Too Routine at The Playlist.
- 4/26/2022
- by Oliver Weir
- The Playlist
It has been accused of ‘shaming Moscow’ and ‘punching the Russian soldier in the face’. But the makers of this powerful drama about dogfights and dangerous desires refuse to be silenced
Oleg Zagorodnii is sitting in the cafe he owns in Kyiv, beneath a brightly coloured painting of Aladdin smiling down from the wall behind. “It is just me now, no baristas,” says the Ukrainian actor via video call. “People come. I make them coffee, give them dessert. They are happy to feel some kind of normal life. They sit in the cafe, we play music, we speak. Of course, all we talk about is war.”
Zagorodnii has twice attempted to enlist in the army, only to be told that there are currently more volunteers than equipment. The best he can do is make appeals on social media for bulletproof vests, and use the cafe as a place to pass on food,...
Oleg Zagorodnii is sitting in the cafe he owns in Kyiv, beneath a brightly coloured painting of Aladdin smiling down from the wall behind. “It is just me now, no baristas,” says the Ukrainian actor via video call. “People come. I make them coffee, give them dessert. They are happy to feel some kind of normal life. They sit in the cafe, we play music, we speak. Of course, all we talk about is war.”
Zagorodnii has twice attempted to enlist in the army, only to be told that there are currently more volunteers than equipment. The best he can do is make appeals on social media for bulletproof vests, and use the cafe as a place to pass on food,...
- 4/21/2022
- by Ryan Gilbey
- The Guardian - Film News
True story of lovers thwarted by the repressive Soviet military in the 1970s has sadly not lost any of its relevance
Made last year but suddenly obliquely relevant after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, this Estonian-British co-production examines some of the ways a repressive and homophobic state apparatus scars citizens with shame. Based on a true story according to the opening credits, the setting is the late 1970s when the Soviet Union still occupied the Baltic nations. Provincial Russian youth Sergey Serebrennikov is doing his national service at an army base in Estonia. He has a coy flirtation going with local beauty Luisa (Diana Pozharskaya), a secretary on the base for a commanding officer, and he is pally with his bunk mate Volodja (Jake Henderson). However, when Sergey is assigned to serve as a sort of valet to suave ace fighter pilot Roman Matvajev (Ukrainian actor Oleg Zagorodnii), the attraction...
Made last year but suddenly obliquely relevant after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, this Estonian-British co-production examines some of the ways a repressive and homophobic state apparatus scars citizens with shame. Based on a true story according to the opening credits, the setting is the late 1970s when the Soviet Union still occupied the Baltic nations. Provincial Russian youth Sergey Serebrennikov is doing his national service at an army base in Estonia. He has a coy flirtation going with local beauty Luisa (Diana Pozharskaya), a secretary on the base for a commanding officer, and he is pally with his bunk mate Volodja (Jake Henderson). However, when Sergey is assigned to serve as a sort of valet to suave ace fighter pilot Roman Matvajev (Ukrainian actor Oleg Zagorodnii), the attraction...
- 4/19/2022
- by Leslie Felperin
- The Guardian - Film News
"I see what goes on under my nose." Roadside Attractions has debuted a second official US trailer for an Estonian Cold War love triangle romantic thriller titled Firebird. It's now opening in April this spring after being delayed from release last fall. The film is made in Estonia but it's shot in English. At the height of the Cold War, a troubled soldier enters a forbidden love triangle with a fighter pilot and his female comrade amid the dangerous surroundings of a Soviet Air Force Base. Firebird shares the true story of forbidden love on a military base. This film is a journey of following love at all costs, of growing up, and of courage even in the most impossible of situations. It's inspired by the true story of Sergey Fetisov. The film stars Tom Prior as Sergey, along with Oleg Zagorodnii, Diana Pozharskaya, Jake Thomas Henderson, Margus Prangel, Ester Kuntu,...
- 3/17/2022
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
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 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...
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 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...
- 2/22/2022
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Exclusive: Roadside Attractions has acquired North American rights to Peeter Rebane’s theatrical feature directorial debut, Firebird, with plans to release it exclusively in theaters on April 29.
Based on a true story that unfolded during the Cold War, Firebird is a love story set against the backdrop of a Soviet Air Force base in Estonia during late 1970s Communist rule. Sergey (Tom Prior), a soulful, young soldier who dreams of becoming an actor in Moscow, is counting the days until his military service ends. His life turns upside down when he locks eyes with Roman (Oleg Zagorodnii), an enigmatic ace fighter pilot newly assigned to his base.
Driven by their undeniable attraction, Sergey and Roman navigate the precarious line between love and friendship at a time when Soviet men in uniform caught having a sexual affair were met with the severest punishment. As their friendship grows into love, the men...
Based on a true story that unfolded during the Cold War, Firebird is a love story set against the backdrop of a Soviet Air Force base in Estonia during late 1970s Communist rule. Sergey (Tom Prior), a soulful, young soldier who dreams of becoming an actor in Moscow, is counting the days until his military service ends. His life turns upside down when he locks eyes with Roman (Oleg Zagorodnii), an enigmatic ace fighter pilot newly assigned to his base.
Driven by their undeniable attraction, Sergey and Roman navigate the precarious line between love and friendship at a time when Soviet men in uniform caught having a sexual affair were met with the severest punishment. As their friendship grows into love, the men...
- 2/22/2022
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
"You know what happens to men like you?" An official US trailer has debuted for an Estonian Cold War love triangle romantic thriller titled Firebird, which is a slick name for a film like this. At the height of the Cold War, a troubled soldier forms a forbidden love triangle with a fighter pilot and his female comrade amid the dangerous surroundings of a Soviet Air Force Base. Firebird shares the true story of forbidden love, set on a military base at the height of the Cold War. This film is a journey of following love at all costs, of growing up, and of courage even in the most impossible of situations. It's inspired by the true story of Sergey Fetisov. The film stars Tom Prior as Sergey, along with Oleg Zagorodnii, Diana Pozharskaya, Jake Thomas Henderson, Margus Prangel, Ester Kuntu, and Nicholas Woodeson. It premiered at the 2021 BFI Flare...
- 11/3/2021
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
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