A short film crowdfunding campaign hopes to start a human rights discussion by raising awareness around the violent abductions and violence condoned by Russia’s discriminatory LGBT progapanda laws. Launched on Indiegogo , Canadian writer and director Blake Mawson told Attitude the campaign would help raise funds to complete the post production stages of PYOTR495, a short film set across in present-day Moscow and follows 16-year old Pyotr as he is baited by an ultranationalist group. https://twitter.com/PYOTR495/status/631724455694348289 “We hope to bring awareness to the topic of repression and violence towards LGBT people using genre film, in an effort to provoke thought and discussion around social anxieties towards the state of gay rights worldwide,” he said. Produced as a take on the horror genre, Mawson said the drama explored the impact of anti-gay propaganda laws passed in 2013 by Vladimir Putin’s government. “Everyday, people are beaten, terrorised, imprisoned, and killed around the world solely as a result of their gender or sexual preference,” Mawson wrote on Indigogo. “As we saw during the 2014 Olympic games, Russian president Vladimir Putin continues to smear gay people as sexual predators and turns a blind eye to their abductions and torture." The production team are calling for donations of support to help with post-production, sound design, clearance fees, music licensing, deferral fees, alongside PR and marketing costs, film festival administration costs and other overheads. For readers who cannot afford a donation, the team are also asking for as many shout outs as possible across social media platforms. PYORT495 stars Russian expat Alex Ozerov (Rookie Blue, Cracked) alongside a stellar crew including producer Sasha Fisher, cinematographer Catherine Lutes, composition by Konrad Black and special effects by Matthew DeWilde. For more information visit the PYOTR495 Indigogo page . Check out the impressive-looking trailer below.