Gennadiy (Gena) Chabotarev is a queer artist from a small town in Russia, 
dresses in otherworldly costumes made from junk and tape, and protests the 
government on the streets of Moscow. Born and raised on the harsh streets of Magadan, a frigid outpost of the Soviet gulag, Gena is only 21. She stages radical performances in public that become a new form of art and activism. By doing that, she wants to change people’s perception of beauty and queerness and bring attention to the harassment of 
the LGBTQ+ community. The performances – often dark, strange, evocative, and queer at their core – are a manifestation of Gena’s subconscious. But they come at a price. QUEENDOM boasts a top notch 
production team that also includes executive producers Jess Search (Citizenfour), David France ( How to Survive a Plague), Arnaud Borges (C’est tout pour moi), and James Costa (Hidden Letters). Director Agniia Galdanova and Producer Igor Myakotin join us for a conversation on the challenge that came from burrowing into the tumultuous life of Gena as she faces the very real danger from hostile Russian police, menacing citizenry and the complicated family, re: her grandfather, a relationships she lovingly navigates.
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About the filmmaker – Agniia Galdanova is a Sundance and IDFA-supported documentary film director. Her previous film, “One Step Forward, One Step Back,” about a family’s dream to live far from civilization in the Altai Mountains, premiered at the Message to Man International Film Festival. Her work focuses on complex human relationships told through immersive observational language. Her new film QUEENDOM about a young queer artist Jenna Marvin is set to premiere at SXSW 2023 in Documentary Competition. Agniia Galdanova is a Sundance and IDFA-supported documentary film director. Her previous film “One Step Forward, One Step Back” about a family’s dream to live far from civilization in the Altai Mountains premiered at the Message to Man International Film Festival.
About the filmmaker – Igor Myakotin is a documentary filmmaker, editor and photographer. He has shot, edited and produced several short documentaries that screened at film festivals in Europe and the U.S. Igor was a production assistant for “The Summer Help” (www.thesummerhelp.com), a new documentary by award-winning American filmmaker Melody Gilbert. In the past he has worked at Bolster in Minneapolis editing videos for clients like Feeding America and RedBrick Health. In the past, Igor was making short documentaries about whales in the North Atlantic Ocean. He is a graduate of the Documentary Studies program at The New School in New York.