Our Colors Never Fade

Our Colors Never Fade follows LGBTQ Ukrainians who leave civilian life to defend their country after Russia’s invasion. Using frontline footage, personal archives, and intimate testimony, the documentary explores sacrifice, resilience, and the search for identity and belonging amid the human realities of war.

When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, some ordinary people became extraordinary. Scientists, beekeepers, theatre directors and veterinarians put their lives on hold, took up arms, and became soldiers, snipers and drone engineers – defending their fellow citizens while rescuing cats and dogs from the atrocities of war. However, these brave men and women are part of the LGBTQ+ military, meaning they are fighting not only to defend their country, but also their own existence – threatened by Russia and, at times, by fellow Ukrainians too.

Through the anguished testimonies of dozens of queer men and women, Jim McSherry – a gay American journalist and documentarian – tells the courageous story of regular people standing up against oppression and intolerance. Following warnings from the US to the United Nations that Russia planned to target “vulnerable populations”, including members of the LGBTQ+ community, by sending them to camps or even executing them, those fears became a grim reality once the war began.

A norm-defying struggle for survival ensued. As one soldier eloquently states, their mission is “to show the entire world that LGBT people are not hiding. We’re also fighting. The same blood runs through our veins – it’s red and it spills.” During a funeral, the film delivers its most painful reminder: war does not discriminate.
Mickey La Rosa

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