Director Alex Burunova on queerness as freedom in Satisfaction

In writer-director Alex Burunova’s Satisfaction, every character is queer. It was never a decision Burunova made for her narrative feature debut, but rather a reflection of channelling herself into this deeply personal tale set on a remote Greek island.

“Every character is me and because I’m queer, every character is queer,” Burunova says to PinkNews ahead of the film’s screening at the 2026 BFI Flare London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival. “In the world [of Satisfaction], queerness is not questioned; it’s a baseline for a human story.”

Burunova grew up in the “really conservative” USSR, but raised by a very liberal family. So, when she came out at 12 years old, “nobody even batted an eye.” Burunova notes: “I’m fortunate to say I didn’t have major trauma connected to my queerness. It was really easy for me.” That lived perspective undeniably underscores the poignant and refreshing storytelling behind Satisfaction, a film that took Burunova eight years to get to the big screen.

Satisfaction is part of a growing LGBTQ+ cinematic canon in which queerness is not framed as otherness. “It’s healing for queer young people to see how queerness can just be,” Burunova notes. “Cinema has gone through such a big evolution over the past few decades. We started out with films that really centre on coming out and traumatic events connected to being queer. Now queerness is just a background, a state of the world as stories unfold.”

‘I’m shocked that there are not more films, books and TV shows about it’

Burunova’s Satisfaction chronicles the tumultuous relationship of British composers Lola (The Brutalists’ Emma Laird) and Philip (Dunkirk’s Fionn Whitehead). The film flits between the start of their romance at a London film school and their haunting, present-day struggles on a lonely Greek island. In golden-lit flashbacks, the pair jubilantly muse about musical ambition and pouring all of themselves into their music.

Cut to the current day, and Lola walks around the oceanside holiday house like a ghost, whispering “no” to all of Philip’s suggestions. Here, the blue ocean and the stunning white architecture are captured in cool tones – the washed-out visuals reflecting Lola’s loss of identity and struggle over losing her voice that once kept her afloat.

Satisfaction’s setting was another facet of the film that Burunova pondered over deeply. Quoting legendary filmmaker Agnès Varda (“If we opened people up, we’d find landscapes”), Burunova shares that the Greek island’s landscape was burrowed into her storytelling. “The empty sky and volcanic, rocky formations, they feel otherworldly, and people feel so small in those landscapes and seascapes,” Burunova notes. “You feel alone but also liberated, the island supports that feeling of being caged and suppressed, but free at the same time.”

‘Being queer is freedom’

Spending time with the couple on the island, it becomes clear a silent rift has wedged itself between the musicians. However, when Lola lays eyes on the tanned skin of free-spirited Elena (Holy Spider’s Zar Amir Ebrahimi) on a nudist beach, something shifts. Lola is imbued with a new lease on life; however, the fractures in her relationship with Philip deepen. The past and the present collide with devastating force. As three bodies press together, Lola begins to dig through her past to excavate what has lingered out of her reach. “Lola is not in a healthy relationship, but what keeps it together is the memories of the good times,” Burunova explains about deliberately structuring this story to mirror how trauma and memory manifest.

Another major plot point in Satisfaction is the central couple’s relationship with creative agency. In flashbacks, they bond over composing, a lifeline for Lola, who opens herself up as buried emotions reach a crescendo. In one scene, Philip undermines Lola’s creative voice. He erases her contribution and uses their joint work as a stepping stone for his career. “I’ve shown the film to many other female filmmakers and artists. So far, I’ve got 100% confirmation that this happened to each one of them,” Burunova says of the worrying trend. “I’m shocked that there are not more films, books and TV shows about it. It’s happened to me three times.”

‘I don’t believe in monosexuality’

Though the characters are from a sonic discipline, Burunova is also connected to them via her artistic pursuits. In addition to filmmaking, Burunova is a theatre director and painter. She exercised the latter by painting her storyboards to convey precise frames and moods. There is one particular moment that Burunova knew was going to be essential to Satisfaction: when the two narrative threads intersect.

Without spoiling the scene, Burunova says: “What I wanted to capture is how something traumatic can change a person. I stayed on [Lola’s] face the whole time because Emma is such an emotionally intelligent actor; she guides us through the whole range of emotion during the traumatic event. We also see how going through trauma can shut down parts of yourself, including that part that loves people.” However, Burunova clarifies: “The film is not about trauma itself, but what it does to us as people, as artists, as lovers, queer people.”

As things come full circle in this poignant feature, Satisfaction maintains its openhearted approach to queerness and has no qualms about seeing its heroine unlimited in her desire. “I don’t believe in monosexuality,” Burunova states. “I believe sexuality is on the spectrum, constantly shifting. Being queer is freedom. It’s allowing you to move, explore yourself, be true to yourself, and shift as your life shifts.”

Satisfaction is screening at BFI Flare: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival on 22 and 23 March. Tickets available now.