Gay athletes forced to stop in Russia come up against the prevailing homophobia.
"The Revenge of the Glitter Shrimps" campaigns against intolerance with a lot of humor.
Filmmakers and actors support the Ukrainian team with which they shot this film full of optimism.
The news has caught up with the famous gay water polo team.
The Revenge of the Glitter Shrimps,
directed as the first part of 2019 by Cédric Le Gallo and Maxime Govare, lands its sporting heroes in Russia.
But it was in Ukraine that this comedy, full of optimism tinged with gravity, was shot to denounce homophobia.
“To renew ourselves, we wanted to confront our Shrimps in a place where gays are not welcome, confides co-director Cédric Le Gallo to
20 Minutes
.
Russia quickly imposed itself as an evidence.
The little band discovers with horror the punitive anti-gay expeditions and the conversion therapies practiced in the country of Vladimir Putin.
"The challenge was to keep the sense of humor that seduced viewers of the first film while addressing serious themes, but there was obviously no question of filming in Russia," adds co-director Maxime Govare.
Solidarity in the city as on the screen
It was last year between kyiv and Lviv that the Shrimps traveled for new seriously militant adventures, but still just as delirious.
“We almost ended up frozen, remembers comedian Geoffrey Couët, but the reception of the population warmed our hearts.
“Ukrainian actors and technicians were very caring for the French.
“We could never have imagined that, a few months later, the war would break out,” breathes actor Roland Menou.
Gathered on a Parisian terrace, filmmakers and performers are equally flabbergasted by the distress of their Ukrainian friends.
“The Glitter Shrimp carry a generous message that takes on a particularly painful meaning today, insists actor Michaël Abiteboul.
We feel very helpless.
The solidarity that inhabits the characters of the film is communicated to everyone.
“We record videos for them, insists Cédric Le Gallo.
It may not seem like a small thing, but it is important for them whose main fear is that the Ukrainian people will be forgotten.
At the end of each preview, the message "Slava Ukraini" ("Glory to Ukaine") was picked up by the directors and transmitted to their team there, some of whom took up arms to defend their country.
The Revenge of the Glitter Shrimp
makes these heroes ever more endearing in their war against intolerance in all its forms.
We dive with delight into this film where laughter proves to be a fabulous weapon for celebrating differences and denouncing injustice in life and on screen.
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