Released on Youtube yesterday to mark the International Day Against Homophobia & Transphobia (IDAHO), Homophobia follows a young soldier who faces torment and bullying due to his sexuality. Then, while patrolling the Austrian-Hungarian border, whose feeling for one of his comrades start to come to the surface.
“Laws can prevent people from doing crimes, but they don’t change people’s thinking. Art can touch people on an emotional level and really make an impact”, says director Gregor Schmidinger. “People often connect homophobia with hate, but it’s really about fear. It’s the fear of the unknown—and sometimes of the unknown within ourselves.”
The short is interesting for highlighting how the mental fear instilled into victims of homophobia can be as as bad as the actual bullying itself. It also suggests internalised homophobia is just as difficult. It might take this to extremes towards the end, but the short is still well worth watching. (Thanks to Queerty for the heads up)