Peeter Rebane and Tom Prior on ‘Firebird’ and Bringing a Soviet-Era True Story of Forbidden Love to Life.

On Friday, April 29th, Peeter Rebane's first feature film "Firebird" will make its U.S theatrical debut in limited release. Adapted from the Sergey Fetisov memoir The Story of Roman, "Firebird" is a Soviet-Era romantic drama starring Tom Prior, Oleg Zagorodnii, and Diana Pozharskay. Tom Prior leads "Firebird" as Sergey, a young soldier finishing out his mandatory military service who becomes fascinated with an alluring new ace fighter pilot, Roman, played by Zagorodnii, on their Estonian air force base. Under an austere regime that forbade homosexuality, Sergey and Roman struggle to keep their mutual attractions concealed while maneuvering the conventional expectations of Soviet military masculinity. As the years go by, Sergey and Roman fall in and out of one another's lives in a romance constantly interrupted by the restraining and dictatorial regime that controls their worlds.

Estonian filmmaker Peeter Rebane first read Sergey Fetisov's The Story of Roman years ago and knew right away that he wanted to adapt it for the screen. Rebane was introduced to Tom Prior in 2014 with the idea of casting Prior in the leading role of Sergey. Their connection over Fetisov's memoir eventually led to Prior serving as a co-producer and co-writer on the film. "We worked extremely well together, bringing different skills to the project," said Rebane. "My strengths are more analytical, whereas Tom's are rooted in feeling the truth of the moment. It was a perfect collaboration; we could develop the story so that it felt honest."

Rebane and Prior's main challenge in creating "Firebird" was honoring Fetisov's memoir while staying truthful to the film's Soviet-Era setting. Before Fetisov's death in 2017, Rebane and Prior met and interviewed him, which turned out to be a priceless opportunity to enrich the film with Fetisov's emotional perspective. Rebane also accessed Fetisov's photo archive, which, along with documentary footage from the period, informed "Firebird's" visual aesthetic with a complete sense of Soviet-Era authenticity. Creating a genuine backdrop for the film's narrative was crucial to the director, who spent his adolescent years living through the late-Communist regime in Estonia. "These details make the world," said Rebane. "If you don't pay attention to the details, then nothing works."

"Firebird" was shot in English, which Rebane felt would allow the film to have a universal appeal to global audiences. Although "Firebird" is a period piece, Rebane and Prior aim for the film to register as a complex love story for audiences worldwide. "Whatever your race, religion, or sexuality, it is love that matters," said Rebane. "I didn't set out to make a political film, I wanted to tell the story of three people living their lives in an authoritarian, hostile society, trying to find love despite having the odds stacked against them."

Peeter Rebane | Director, Co-Writer, Co-Producer of ""Firebird."

Born in Estonia, Rebane’s portfolio includes feature films "Firebird," “Sailing to Freedom"(in development), documentaries "Tashi Delek!" and "Robbie Williams: Fans Journey to Tallinn", as well as music videos including Moby’s “Wait for Me” and Pet Shop Boys’ “Together.” He has also produced European Film Awards and many concerts in the Baltic region for musicians including Lady Gaga, Elton John, Queen, and others.

I sat down during the press week for "Firebird" to have a conversation with Rebane about his first feature film, you can find the interview below:

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Foremost Film: "Firebird" is your feature film debut; What challenges did you face with a narrative feature since your previous work focused on documentary and music videos?

Peeter Rebane: I think narrative has always been my kind of passion or goal, but I didn't feel ready for it. Documentary and music videos helped me be in the present moment and with visuals. But it's amazing because, in narrative form you can have the freedom, which you don't when you are a doing a video to somebody's music track or in a documentary where, for me, at least as a filmmaker, it's always important to stay neutral. So not like Michael Moore going with a microphone and forcing a very certain personal point of view, rather observing and letting the subject speak. And you never know where the story ends up, but it was a challenge because we made a period piece with a small budget. So to achieve that production value was tough, and doing it for the first time was like a good film school.

Yeah, I read in the press notes that you took it very seriously to be as accurate with the period as possible. That clearly comes through in the film's stunning visuals. How has your experience adapting Sergey Fetisov's memoir that the film is based on? What are the challenges in staying true to a real person's story?

Peeter Rebane: When adapting it for the screen, it was challenging for two reasons: First, we really wanted to stay as accurate as possible when adapting a book for the screen. Fetisov's memoir was written decades after he was young and in the army, a very subjective point of view. Tom and I both felt like Fetisov focused a lot on the positive [in the memoir.] So we, as writers, really had to fill in the context, the fear, the KGB repression side of it and give a more balanced view. And secondly, we had to work on Louisa's female perspective because even when we met with Fetisov in Moscow and interviewed him, he was very still bitter about her and saw her as an obstacle to his love. Whereas in real life, she was equally a victim of the system that she didn't choose such a life shape. She didn't willingly want such a family. So those are probably the biggest challenges that we faced. At the same time, we had the amazing opportunity to get to meet him and to get actually to ask him what was it like and, you know, even little details, like what kind of music they listened to or what kind of food they ate and that all informed us in writing and informed me in directing.

Right. I'm sure that it was invaluable to interview Fetisov and know him as a person before he passed. So you met Tom Prior in 2014. Can you speak to the evolution of your creative process with him over such a long period while you were pulling together the financing to make this film?

Peeter Rebane: I was introduced to Tom by a mutual friend, a film producer from Los Angeles who had read my early draft of the screenplay and fought that Tom would actually be amazing to play the lead part of Sergey. And then, in the summer of 2015, we shot a couple of scenes of the film as a proof of concept for financiers. Then Tom started making some suggestions on how to improve it. And then, we started discussing it and working on some scenes, which led to a two-year process of rewriting and core writing. For me, Tom brought in several important aspects, and I think we complemented each other. Having grown up myself as a quite heavily repressed gay man or teenager at the time [of the late Soviet Era,] some things for me were given as a cultural background from Estonia. In contrast, for a British or American, you need some context and some explanations. I think Tom, as an actor, is really good at being in the moment and writing in the moment, which helped in creating believable, real situations and scenes.

You briefly spoke about Louisa's character already, but I just wanted to ask about the film's sort of love triangle; I think it plays well into the concepts of mistrust and paranoia that a lot of people experienced living in the Soviet Union. Can you speak to how you built this complicated relationship between the film's three leading characters?

Peeter Rebane: We relied on a lot of research. We couldn't talk to real Louisa, and we had only Sergey's first-hand perspective. So we did many interviews, and Deanna, who plays Louisa, spoke with many women who did grow up during that period to get a perspective of what it was like for a woman in the Soviet Union in the 1970s. And also, what was it like if you were left alone by your husband, which usually meant you were totally outcasted. I think it's fascinating because a lot of LGBTQIA+ stories are told from the perspective of two men or two women and the obstacles of their love. So we looked at it from the angle of two friends and how their friendship is tested and then how their romantic relationships are also tested because the film starts and ends with the story of Sergei and Louisa, even though the central piece is Sergei and Roman's story. So it was a fascinating kind of organic process, really of researching.

The iconic distributor Roadside Attractions is handling the theatrical release for "Firebird," which must be very exciting. What's your experience been like working with them?

Peeter Rebane: Honestly, very amazing. I don't even need to lie. I have just such a grateful feeling, really thankful to work with a distributor of this size. Whenever we have a question or an issue to resolve, you get replies from [Roadside's Team] within hours, not even days, and just the hands-on involvement. And I think the passion for the project and the passion for the story. So, it's been joyful. It's been honestly a very positive experience working together and having them bring the story to the audience in the U.S.

Yeah, I'm sure it's been a great feeling to know that a distributor that is so supportive of such a variety of really important and creative films is behind your work on "Firebird." To wrap up with my last question, in times like what we're going through right now, with so much anti-LGBTQIA+ legislation still affecting almost every country around the globe, what would you like for queer audiences to take away from "Firebird" and its themes of forbidden love?

Peeter Rebane: For the U.S. audiences specifically, I think it's important to realize that things have progressed a lot in the last 40 or 50 years in the Western world. But, the situation is really, really tough for most of the LGBTQIA+ community around the world still. I mean, Russia is one example today, Ukraine even. It's hard to imagine what's going on there. But also in many African countries and the Middle East. So, I hope that the U.S. community creates more awareness of all of the issues that still face so many, probably the vast majority of LGBTIA+ communities in the world. I think it's important for those countries to see that these relationships have always happened. I hope that it creates more understanding and compassion within central Eastern Europe, Russia, and all of these areas. And, especially now when you know everything Russian is kind of banished, almost. They protested our screening in front of the cinema in Moscow [for the 2021 Moscow International Film Festival]. So there's still a lot of progress to be made. And, even in light of today's war, we should not charge all the Russians because most of them are similarly suffering under the current dictatorship.

Tom Prior| Actor, Co-Writer, Co-Producer of "Firebird."

British actor Prior's film roles include "The Theory of Everything," "Kingsman: The Secret Service," and most recently, "Blood on the Crown." His theatre performances have included roles in "Romeo and Juliet," "The Prince of Denmark," and "Tory Boyz." In 2014 he wrote his first short film, "Breaking the Circle."

Below you will find my interview with Prior about his role in bringing "Firebird" to the big screen:

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

You're best known for your performances in front of the camera and on stage, but you are a co-producer and a co-writer on "Firebird." Can you speak to me about your experience in these roles for the first time?

Tom Prior: I was initially approached to play the lead in the film [Sergey]. And then, when Peter and I started working together, we decided that we needed to create a concept trailer to raise the rest of the financing for the film. So, while we were doing that, I made some suggestions on how the script might be improved a little [along with] the scenes we were shooting. And Peter very graciously gave the answers and allowed me to contribute more and more. So that led to two and a half years' worth of rewriting and restructuring and meeting the real Sergei in Moscow. One of the main things that I brought to the script was that I wanted to make it a little more of an action thriller. So that not only is it set on an air force base and you have the aesthetic of that, you get some action out of that [location] as well. There are moments where we get pulled out of this love story into the action, but it's still about the love story. So that was very important to me.

As a producer on the film, we actively sought out our other investors and other finances, and that was no small feat, I can tell you that. That meant going to all kinds of social gatherings or parties or whatever it might've been just to have conversations and see if people were serious, not just [approaching investors] who liked the idea of being in the film business. I had to inform people, you know, for the responsibility of maybe never getting money back and things like that. So quite hard conversations at times, it was very humbling to see the other side of the business. And then, I will say, we've literally created our own distribution company initially to help roll this film out. We are now gratefully working with Roadside Attractions, who have been amazingly supportive. There's been a lot of growing up involved in that. Cause you know, you can act in a film, and then you can just sort of like, you know, chuck it aside and go, "Okay next." But this has been a long journey. There are a lot of real people with money at stake, who I know very well personally, and I'm making sure they're going to get it back.

What was it like to interview Sergei while he was still alive, to work closely with this person you then went on to portray in the film?

Tom Prior: Honestly, the more I think about it, the more valuable it was. It wasn't necessarily more of what he said, but it was about being around him. He was such a warm, generous, really sunny person. He was very unapologetic about who he was. Not like rubbing it in people's face sort of thing, but he would openly flirt with a male waiter in a suburb of Moscow, and Peter and I were like, "Oh, he is not afraid." It wasn't in a way that you were like, "This is a bit like sleazy." He was very warm, with a very honest heart, and it was so special to get to know him. Through the long hours we spent getting to know him, we learned of his illness and that they wanted to do surgery. Then he wasn't in good enough health to have it done. And then the next thing we heard, he was suddenly having the surgery and then passed away in intensive care. It was really hard. It was odd to hear that.

Peter and I were like, "should we get to a funeral or not?" So we asked his best friend, who's also called Sergei. And we went; we took the trip and stood in this Russian Orthodox church, realizing the gravity of what I'd set myself up to do it. Um, and the responsibility of that, "I will leave your legacy, how you be remembered." On some of the hardest days on set, I got into quite a state. I'd be like," Oh, I feel like I'm letting him down." Then in other ways, it was magical because I would say kind of like, he was there with me at times. It was pretty overwhelming, but I wouldn't change it for the world.

Yeah. That's a very special sort of situation too. To be upholding someone's legacy, having also known Sergei during the later stages of his life, because so often in film, we're looking at people far in the past or people still alive, but you're sort of stuck between that. So you filmed "Firebird" in 2018; how does it feel now with the film making its theatrical debut later this month?

Tom Prior: It's honestly unbelievable because I've been involved in such a large amount of the process. I acted in this film four years ago, and now it's finally coming about. I've been there through the edit, through the music recordings. I was [involved in] creating a musical score with our amazing composer and went through so much of the coloring and the sound design. It's been so interesting to learn how important it is, like 70 people's jobs that never really get given credit. Like our dialogue editor, he's just a genius about what he must do because Oleg (who plays Roman) didn't really speak that much English when we began. And there are parts of the movie, which, you know, both him and myself and some of the other members of the team as well, had to have dialogue replaced. What people can do is just like, "Wow!" It's going to be so amazing! I really hope and trust that people will come out again to support the film financially. Cause I think a lot of people got used to "It's not on Netflix, and I'm not going to watch it." But I hope people can be encouraged to come out and support it [theatrically] because it is a wholly independently financed film. It's been made with a huge amount of love and care and commitment by so many people who have just gone above and beyond and taken almost no money for it. So it's amazing to see we weren't wrong, that what we were creating when people watch it, they really do have a pretty strong reaction. It emotionally rings very true for a lot of people, which is so nice. It's not like, "Oh, that was a nice film." And then move on. Somebody will write to me days later, or a week later. Your film is still hanging around, you know. That's very special.

Still today, LGBTQ+ plus communities worldwide are fighting for equal rights and visibility. So what would you like audiences to take away from "Firebird" and its themes of forbidden love?

Tom Prior: The biggest lesson that I learned for sure from Sergei is to go for what sets your heart on fire, to really go after that, because the thing is, you just feel so much more alive when you go off to do that, I think you dare to go after that you just feel like you have so much more energy and [you feel] so much more alive. And so that was what I took from Sergey and what I really hope people will take from the film. You can have a terrific loss or break up, but honestly, it's worth it. Sergei wouldn't have written this story 30 years after it happened if the love hadn't meant that much to him, made him so alive, and that's truly living, right?

"Firebird" will begin its limited theatrical release in the U.S on Friday, April 29th. For showtimes and more information on the film, visit "Firebird’s” website.