The groundwork for social change is often laid for decades during which little progress is outwardly visible. Suddenly, however, a seemingly unbelievable leap takes place, and its revolutionary character evokes euphoria among proponents of change - and violent opposition from conservative opponents.

On a global scale, this is the history of the LGBT+ rights struggle. The story goes from criminalization - which unfortunately still guides politics and law in many countries, to tolerance, all the way through recognition of same-sex marriage and the right to adoption. However, it is not just the conservative response to emancipation and gender equality that has outlined this historic axis. The AIDS epidemic in the 1980s created a new, deadly threat, which also proved to be a catalyst for the movement that became a struggle for physical survival. This is the kind of struggle that the trans community is undergoing today in e.g. Brazil, as poignantly documented in our festival film "Indianara."

In Poland, there has never been a real emancipation of the LGBT+ community, let alone any gradual legislative change. That is why the ongoing attack on non-heteronormative Poles by the ruling politicians is less likely a reaction to transformation, but rather a populist search for enemies and fear management. And again, it provokes not only societal hatred, but also a reflex of solidarity with the targets of these insults and quite literal stones. It is difficult to imagine a more apt film for our program about the situation and rights of LGBT+ people than Wojtek Jankowski's documentary about The Rainbow, a film full of symbolic meanings imbued in an artistic installation whose history has become a symbol itself.