New Short Film ‘Fear of Flying’ Explores the Pains of Being Queer (Watch Now)

Embracing queer identity means breaking social norm and familial expectation, confronting misunderstanding and sometimes abuse. Even in today’s urban climate, inundated with inclusive parenting methods and strategic representation on screen, the day-to-day pains living as a queer person often go unheard.

Director Mykhailo Dolgin’s new short film, Fear of Flying, produced by Focus Media Group, is a piece of tragic poetry captured through film.

“The goal of the film is to show how important it is to love yourself regardless of what others think,” Dolgin tells LATV. “It is important to be able to lift yourself up. It is important to find peace within yourself, free yourself [from] any doubts and boundaries.”

Starring Bianca Fairchild, the project follows a transgender woman who desperately seeks self-love to overcome the many pains of being herself in a hurting world.

Still | “Fear of Flying”

On the inside, she always knew she was different. Her outside environment taught her that these differences were a problem. Like a bird trapped in a cage, she flutters through life trying to escape the fringes of her fears—the fear of others, the fear of herself, the fear of flying.

In the film, the protagonist tells her younger self in a voice-over:

You’re going to spend a lot of your life feeling lost, confused, like you don’t matter, like people don’t understand you, like you don’t have a place in this world — but you do, you do.

Still | “Fear of Flying”

Perhaps this is a sad truth that we fail to talk about with queer youth. Before we come out, we grapple solo with the pains of our identity. Then, we come out, and, perhaps momentarily, our experience takes the shape of a daily pride parade, free finally from the confines of our superimposed falsehoods.

But, then what? Then, we’re openly queer for the rest of our lives — a beautiful thing and a challenging thing all at once. A queer person must exist in a world that, conventionally, isn’t made for them, so the little things aren’t always easy. In the Fear of Flying, Fairchild’s character finds the courage to love herself in spite of the pains aiming to bring her down.

“I want to be a voice and a beacon of light for all that can’t or don’t have the strength to speak,” Fairchild, also trans, tells LATV. “I want to change the narrative of what it is to be a transgender woman. I am so much more than meets the eye.”

From one generation to the next, queer growing pains take different forms. Dolgin’s Fear of Flying reminds us that day-to-day struggles within the trans experience must be explored, discussed, and shared.

Check out the film!