There are a lot of gay-themed projects out there looking for funding, so when we cover one it’s great to here that it’s got the cash it needs and is moving forward. Just over a year ago Teenage Kicks was looking for money, and now we’ve had word that the movie has gone into production.

Teenage Kicks is the feature version of the successful short Drowning, which screened around the world at film festival and featured on the short film collection, Boys On Film 6: Pacific Rim. It’s take a few years to get it from short to movie, but it will now shoort over the next five weeks in Sydney’s Inner West and south-eastern suburbs.

Drowning’s writer/director, Craig Boreham, is once more at the helm, and one of the short’s stars, Miles Szanto is set to reprise his role. Since starring in Drowning, Szanto has gone onto plenty of success, including scoring the lead role in the LGBT-themed film, Bruno & Earlene Go to Vegas. Another of Drowning’s stars, Xavier Samuel, has also gone into great things, such as appearing in The Twilight Saga: Eclipse and Adores. He won’t return for Teenage Kicks, but Daniel Webber (The Combination, K9, Sleeping Beauty), Charlotte Best (Home and Away, Puberty Blues), Shari Sebbans (The Sapphires, Redfern Now), Ian Roberts (Little Fish, Superman Returns, Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities) and Anni Finsterer (The Boys are Back, Sleeping Beauty, Prime Mover, Accidents Happen) are all onboard.

Here’s the synopsis: ‘In the final moments of his seventeenth year, Miklós Varga’s (Szanto) world has come crumbling down. His plans to run away and escape the hold of his migrant family have been brutally undone by family disaster. Only Mik knows the events that led to this tragedy and as far as he can see there is only one person to blame: himself.

Mik is suddenly torn between his desire to head north and start a new life with his best friend Dan, and the obligation to his broken family. Can he fill the shoes of his adored sibling or is he toxic, destined to bring ruin upon everyone he loves?

“We are really exploring that ‘in-between’ phase that we all go through. That cusp moment between teen and adult when the world can turn on its head every single day and you are still trying to find where you fit in the scheme of things,” says Craig Boreham. “Teenage Kicks is an in-your-face, raw look at that time and the issues and struggles these young characters go through when they come crashing toward adulthood. It’s an evocative, sexually charged story that I think most people can relate to.”