Side by Side

From November 21st to November 28th we’ll be posting writing from Ed Wolf documenting his trip to the Side-By-Side LGBT Film Festival in St. Petersburg. Catch up with Part One, Part Two.   

Part Three: Lost and Found 

Thursday November 21st—Friday November 22nd

I check my email one last time before turning off my computer. Gus van Sant, the director of “Milk” and “Good Will Hunting,” among other films, is going to attend the festival. This is good, I think. More attention, publicity, perhaps even more security.

The Homobile driver is right on time; he texts me to say he’s arrived with his town car. When I bring my bags down to the street, I see an enormous vehicle waiting for me. I get inside and it feels like sitting on a huge red velvet sofa with wheels. The driver’s caffeinated and friendly. His fingernails are painted black. He’s already done a roundtrip to the airport this morning and asks where I’m going. I tell him about the film festival in St. Petersburg and he, like everyone else, is already very aware of the oppression of the Russian queer community there. “I hope they don’t burn it all down,” he says and then, after a pause, “I hope they don’t arrest you.”

I reassure him that won’t happen, that it’s the Russian LGBT community who are in much more danger than I am, but still, I’m struck by his quick response and how it points to one of the worst case scenarios that’s been running through my thoughts these past few days: a giant fire and me behind bars.

I tell him about “We Were Here,” how it tells the story of the earliest days of the AIDS epidemic in San Francisco. He tells me when he tested positive, the counselor told him he would live about ten years, that he should take care of his health as best he could, and not to see any sad movies. I tell him that the film is going to be screening at the Castro Theatre the following weekend, December 1^st, World AIDS Day. He says he’ll probably be out of town.

And then we’re at the airport. I check one bag and keep a smaller one with me. It’s got my shaving kit, one clean set of clothes, and my laptop power cord. My itinerary is San Francisco to Washington DC to Geneva to St. Petersburg. It starts out well until I switch planes in Washington. The flight is so crowded that they have to take my bag and check it. They assure me it will be there in St. Petersburg when I arrive. I...