Inside Out marketed Silvana, a collaboration between three filmmakers, differently. They pitched it as a Swedish version of the Katy Perry and Lady Sovereign rumour. Some dumb dumb brains like mine thought that this wasn’t real but audiences will be happy that it is. Silvana Imam’s a real rapper and she’s successful.

Part of what makes me happy about Imam’s existence is something she freely discusses. She exists – POC, queer, rapper – but history hides women like her. The documentary plays around with this ambiguity. It shows her far away, roaming Sweden’s avenues, as frequently as it closes up on her.

Silvana mostly shows the intimate life of a contemporary musician. It’s a difficult life of constant gigs but there’s a lot of backstage scenes where Imam can take a breath. And these spaces is where she finds a crush – the equally talented and successful Swedish pop singer Beatrice Eli.

Much of the movie is about Imam’s relationship with Eli but it’s mostly Imam’s movie. She’s a strong advocate for LGBT rights and visibility in a country that’s more homophobic than its reputation. Nonetheless, the movie shows her reservations about how her sexuality affects the diaspora to which she belongs.

However, it’s as if all of Imam’s reservations disappear when Eli returns to her life. The film has a lot of great concert footage where the two stars show their love to their fans. These two Swedes show an international community the public side of LGBT love, making music together.

Distance can’t destroy love, as sappy as that sounds. One of the doc’s best moments is showing Imam happy while listening to one of Eli’s songs. And emotion isn’t the only element driving this love. The audience can see how her head turns at Eli’s lyrics, showing the rapper’s brilliance.