[Music]
drag queen
27 year old sergey alias miami
performs at three monkeys a gay club in
moscow
it's how he makes his living even if the
job clashes with a taboo in russia
i have a second face for face id it
doesn't recognize me
i did a good job on the makeup today
she's that kind of woman
stage at the club the drag queen feels
confident free
and easy outside the club his videos
provoke very different reactions
i don't want to see that
it makes me want to vomit
send him to the army not just for one
year
he ought to serve three
one time you could have gotten your head
torn off for that
[Music]
sergey works hard on his act developing
the choreographies himself
step by step in 2015 he came to moscow
from a little village in western russia
he felt liberated but only within the
safe confines of the club
with my wigs and high heels i don't fit
the image of the russian mail
i can't walk down the street as miami
not because i don't want to but because
i'm afraid
afraid for my life and for my face
there are good reasons to be afraid in
russia
it's very dangerous for a man to appear
in public wearing makeup and women's
clothes
as seen here in moscow's metro
homophobic groups
may quickly turn violent and debase
their victims
sergei is well aware of the danger and
never leaves the club in drag
even so much as posting about his act on
the internet
without including an age limit could
land him in court on charges of
homosexual propaganda
in such an environment sergey says it's
dangerous to come out as gay
even to one's own family
i haven't had any contact with my father
for about 10 years
once i got drunk and messaged him saying
father i'm bisexual
i'm not bisexual i'm gay but that's how
i put it
i thought it'd be easier for him i have
nothing against girls
but i also like boys he's never called
me since
my stepmother called me from his
telephone and said what have you done
we raised you
but sergey doesn't intend to stay hidden
away
forever sowing his outfits in secret
he has dreams of a grand career and he's
invested his creativity
and about 11 000 euros in fabrics
makeup and shoes
i'd like to be in the media and
appearing in movies and shows
so people won't be scared of us i'd like
to be able to walk the streets as miami
and not have people yell things at me
like your place is in the cemetery
[Music]
such things frighten sergey but he's not
giving miami up
he'll carry on as the dazzling drag
queen but
maybe not in russia sergey has dreams of
a life in another country