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, Part Four, Part Five, Part Six.

Part Seven: LaSky

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

I toss and turn and don’t sleep well. In the morning there’s a message from Olga, the volunteer who I met on my second day here. She reports that last night’s fire was most probably an accident with no connection to the festival.

I go down to breakfast, feeling nervous about tonight’s screening of “Blue Is the Warmest Color,” which won the Cannes Film Festival’s Palme d’Or this year. It’s showing at a mainstream cinema, the time and place of which has been well announced. I’m trying to imagine what it would be like to walk with other festival-goers through a taunting crowd who might be throwing things at us. I’ve never forgotten walking to my Perry Street apartment in Greenwich Village back in the 70s when a rock the size of a bowling ball came hurtling down from somewhere above me. It bounced off the sidewalk with a large crack. When I looked up, I couldn’t see anyone.

Olga has agreed to come to the hotel and take me to the LaSky office. They’re the community group dedicated to preventing HIV infection as well as improving the quality of life for those already living with HIV in Russia. We decide to have lunch first and Bard joins us. He knows of a good Asian restaurant in a nearby mall.

I’ve gotten so immersed in the day-to-day events here that I haven’t noticed Christmas has crept up on us. The mall is full of Christmas trees and lights and sale signs. It’s depressing. Over our meal we talk about tonight and what to anticipate. I ask Bard and Olga if they’ve ever had to walk through a crowd that was throwing things at them. Bard says yes, but it was a long time ago. Olga says never.

I ask if the police will protect us. They both agree they probably won’t. I suggest bringing our own eggs and returning the gesture. That, they say, would be something the police would respond to. Before we leave the restaurant, Bard says I must go and check out the bathroom and, to my great surprise, there are two commodes in it. This weird discovery helps lighten my mood a bit before Olga and I head off to find meet Valery at the LaSky.

Olga has to make several phone calls before we can locate the building. We’re in a...