Firebird

Estonia under Soviet occupation, 1977. Private Sergey is finishing two years of conscription at an air force base. A new fighter pilot arrives: Roman. Something begins between them that goes unnamed for a long time, because it cannot be named; homosexuality is a crime in the Soviet Union and in the army it means prison. Luisa, who works at the same base, comes between them. The film is less interested in love than in surveillance. Every letter can be read, every closeness can be reported, and the presence of the KGB officer never goes away. Its most frightening scene is not an interrogation but a photograph. Peeter Rebane directed and co-wrote with Tom Prior, both of them also producing. Tom Prior plays Sergey, Oleg Zagorodnii plays Roman and Diana Pozharskaya plays Luisa. The source is real: Sergey Fetisov's memoir The Story of Roman, first published in the early nineties under the pen name Sergey Nizhny. It had its world premiere at BFI Flare in London on 17 March 2021. Who it is for: anyone who likes Cold War narratives and drama built on a forbidden relationship. Who it is not for: anyone wanting pace. The telling follows classical patterns, some scenes explain too much, and the ending aims straight at the emotions.