“Why do you want to make a film about Pride? Everything’s fine!” This, Ashley Joiner tells PinkNews, was usually the response he got while looking for funding for Are You Proud? — his first feature film. “No one really wanted to talk about this,” he says. “And then the Orlando attack happened. And somebody that I’d reached out to before to try and support the film came back to me immediately and said, ‘I finally understand why you want to make this film.’” The film tells the story of the gay rights movement in the UK, from the first Pride march in London in 1972 to today’s Pride movement, which has, in some ways, splintered, with newer events like Trans Pride Brighton and UK Black Pride making space for those in the queer community who feel they aren’t served by an increasingly corporate Pride.