THE STORY – Russian artist and college student Jenna Marvin uses surreal drag to protest Russia’s negative stereotypes of LGBTQ+ people and the Putin administration. As her work garners visibility on social media, her newfound popularity doesn’t translate to embracement from people who support anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, her college officials, and family members.
THE CAST – Jenna Marvin
THE TEAM – Agniia Gladanova (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 99 minutes
Jenna Marvin has two lives in Russia. During the day, she studies makeup and hopes to work in the fashion industry. At night, she applies what she learned at university as a drag artist. With the Slender Man being a primary inspiration for her, she seams surrealist costumes out of tape, foil, plastic, and other materials found in the dumpsters to amplify the limited legal rights queer people have in Russia. The bald, non-binary artist said in an interview that she doesn’t see the gruesomeness in her outfits, which include being in white face paint and tentacle-like fingers, but rather how she experiences life. Eventually, Jenna’s performance art would gain recognition on social media. Her story encouraged director Agniia Gladanova and producer Igor Myakotin to make the documentary “Queendom” about her rising fame.
Set between 2019 and 2022, “Queendom” follows Jenna balancing her personal and artistic life across the snowy town of Magadan and her country’s capital, Moscow, in the leadup to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Though Jenna’s views on her TikToks are escalating, so are the chances of being scrutinized by institutions and her family as she got expelled for using the Russian flag colors in her outfit to protest Russian President Vladimir Putin. Jenna has an enormous affection for her family and constantly spends time with them over meals despite her family members misgendering and dissuading her from being a performance artist. Yet, she remains persistent in her emerging career as an artist and won’t let anybody obstruct her path.
While some filmmakers like Kitty Green and Robert Greene distinguish the reality and fantasy portions of their character lives by utilizing specific aspect ratios and different camera lenses, Gladanova deploys an observational approach to examine the similarities in the artistic, domestic, and educational settings in Jenna’s life. They are all part of Jenna’s world, and she doesn’t see a concrete separation between each environment; each place has its own pecking order, and Jenna confronts its stakeholders in and outside her oeuvre. At times, Gladanova intersperses the narrative with Jenna’s TikToks of her performance and complements it with the sociopolitical circumstances of her life.
It is breathtaking to see Jenna not compromising her objectives in living as her most authentic self. However, “Queendom” spends a tad too long on its runtime. There are several scenes where Jenna (in drag) is in highly concentrated, non-artistic places like a grocery store, the streets, a train, and a Ferris wheel to accentuate how politics is embedded in the art and vice versa. While Jenna is doing ordinary activities like walking and purchasing items, she endures homophobia from citizens and authorities. Though it is vital to see the contrast and resemblance in the ways people perceive Jenna across the world and receiving warmth and hostility from a variety of people, a couple of such scenes don’t reveal new (subtle) information about anti-LGBTQ attitudes and legislation in Russia or how these interactions weave the needle forward in Jenna’s life. Despite its editing flaws, “Queendom” is an astonishing testament to maintaining creativity in the face of atrocity. Gladanova’s portrait of Jenna is a gift to cherish during the rough times in Russia and Ukraine. Ultimately, Jenna shows us the power of love within and outside of her performances and how to share it not only with others but with ourselves as well.
