Authors

Discussion

For over twenty years, Russian scholars and activists alike have been theorising whether the concept of 'queerness' can be appropriated and localised in Russia for the benefit of local LGBTQ communities. Building on the previous and current scholarship in the field of Russian queer studies and utilising methodological approaches of audience and reception studies, I examine the ways in which opinion leaders among Russian LGBTQ film audiences have been appropriating the term 'kvir' (queer), which first entered the Russian media landscape around 2003 and which is currently being used interchangeably with other terms denoting non-hetero- and non-cisnormativity. I focus in particular on the practice of 'queering' in the context of viewing and interpreting contemporary, post-Soviet, and Soviet Russian cinema. I analyse how 'queering' is used by LGBTQ community opinion leaders as an optic for discerning obvious or ciphered visual and verbal expressions of non- heteronormative gender and sexuality on screen, at the same time reclaiming narratives of the recent and remote past as shared and individual LGBTQ histories. The research presented in the paper draws on the data which was obtained from digital media outlets (Parni PLUS, Kvir, Gay.ru) and social media channels on YouTube and Telegram produced by LGBTQ people. The research findings cover various aspects of LGBTQ audiences’ perceptions and (re-)negotiations of what comprises 'kvir-kino' (queer cinema).