Gay Short Films & Web Series

After a successful run at film festivals, including winning Short of the Week at the 2016 SXSW Film Festival, 1985 is now preparing to become a movie. It’s a good time then to take a look back at the original nine-minute film.

In the short, ‘A dying man (Robert Sella) prepares to move in with his estranged mother. He makes an appointment with a beauty consultant (Lindsay Pulsipher) to hide his symptoms.’

The feature film is already casting, with Cory Michael Smith, best known as Edward Nygma/The Riddler in TV’s Gotham, set to star. The plot with also slightly shifts, with (via NewNowNext) ‘Adrian (Smith) visiting his estranged family in Texas to tell them that he has AIDS. Michael Chiklis and Virginia Madsen play Smith’s conservative parents, with Stranger Things’ Noah Schnapp co-starring as his pre-teen brother and Jamie Chung (Big Hero 6) playing a former flame.’

Take a look at Yen Tan’s original short below. [Read more…]

Sometimes you don’t need to take long to tell an interesting story. That’s certainly true of Ecstasy, which is only four-minutes long, but certainly leaves the viewer with a few things to ponder. It doesn’t hurt either that it’s a well made movie with some good visuals.

Canadian-based filmmaker Kyle Reaume’s film follows a man who ‘would do anything to be touched by his former lover once more. Ecstasy is an exploration of the coalescence of love and violence.’ It’s provides an interesting look at the idea of there being a thin line between love and hate, and also between love and violence.

After a successful run in film festivals around the world, Ecstasy is now available online. You can take a look at it below.

Take a look at the short film below. If you know a short film we ought to be posting, tell us by getting in touch via our contact page. And check out more LGBT short films and web series here. [Read more…]

Over the past couple of months there have been horrifying reports about what is going on in Chechnya, where a purge is happening of gay men, with suggestions of the first concentration camps in Europe since the Second World War, when gay men are imprisoned and tortured, apparently to get them to name other gay people. Most recently it’s been said at least 30 people have been killed, either by the authorities or by being outed to their families and the police suggesting the family ‘take care’ of it. This included reports over the weekend of a teenage boy being thrown from a ninth floor balcony by his uncle (who was following the wishes of other family members) after being outed to them by the authorities.

Meanwhile the Chechnyan government has insisted nothing has happened and there can’t be a purge as gay people don’t exist in the semi-autonomous region of Russia. Vladimir Putin meanwhile was initially reluctant to investigate until intense international pressure was put upon him to do so (but there’s still little evidence he’ll do anything).

One of the responses to this unfolding horror is the short film Unchechen. As Attitude reports, ‘Take Back, a theatre collective led by Julie Hesmondhalgh, commissioned a stage version of Unchechen which was performed at Contact, Manchester in May 2017. The response to the piece was so strong that it created a momentum to film the piece, in order for it to reach a much wider audience. Stephen M Hornby, the original writer, adapted it for screen and recruited Inkbrew Productions and Digital Stage to make the film. Dean Gregory (Hamlet, Royal Exchange Manchester) and Martin Green (Green Room Creative Productions) play the lead roles.

‘Alex Markham, Director digitalSTAGE, said: “I’m sickened by what’s happening in Chechnya, but, like a lot of people, I felt impotent. I wanted to do something immediate and practical to offer solidarity. I hope this film will get people donating to help some more of these men get to safety.”

‘Stephen M Hornby, writer and director of “Unchechen”, said: “The State organised extermination of gay men in Chechnya is a horrific ghost from World War Two. But it’s real. The men fleeing from it are too terrified to go on camera, and so I wanted to try to fill the silence with something that attempts to make this crisis real and human.’

Take a look at the short film below. If you know a short film we ought to be posting, tell us by getting in touch via our contact page. And check out more LGBT short films and web series here. [Read more…]

A new web weries has released it’s pilot episode, this one about a duo of Mormon missionaries who’ve been sent to LA to try and big up the Church Of Jesus Christ Of The Latter Day Saints. However, this proves far easier said than done.

After one of the missionaries is passed a sexy flyer for a gay vigil (by Willam no less), he can’t deny it’s stirred up a whole load of feeling he’s not supposed to have. So despite the fact he’s always meant to stay with his fellow missionary, he decides to sneak out and see what’s happening at the vigil.

In between that, he’s also got to deal with the fact nobody wants to talk to them, and there’s another minority religion/cult (depending on who you talk to) on the block – Scientology. And that involves a guest appearance from Drew Droege.

Creator/star Joseph Baken made the show in response to an experience he had with a young Mormon back when he was doing summer theatre at the age of 19. In fact he’s written a whole piece about it over at The Advocate, which is well worth a read.

Take a look at Ding Dongs: Episode 1 below. [Read more…]

Made by a group of students from Magdeburg in the former East Germany Geliebter Sam is a rather sweet short, about the fledgling teenage relationship between the German David and exchange student Sam. While David is out, Sam is still in the closet, which becomes a bigger problem when his unpleasant brother finds out the truth.

The film arose out of a filmmaking workshop by LGBTI media project Queerblick, with the students creating the movie themselves. It was originally designed to be all in German, but went bilingual when US exchange student Noah Hutchinson joined the team.

The short has also been praised for spreading a message of body positivity, showing a growing love between two normal people outside film’s usual ripped mould. Take a look at Geliebter Sam below (you may need to switch on the subtitles for the German sections).

If you know a short film we ought to be posting, tell us by getting in touch via our contact page. And check out more LGBT short films and web series here. [Read more…]

A couple of day ago we posted the trailer for the second season of Daddyhunt, which teased the return of  BJ Gruber and Jim Newman’s cute couple. As the title suggests, it’s a bit of a May/December romance, brought to us courtesy of the Daddyhunt app, which caters for younger guys looking for older and vice versa.

While the first season of Daddyhunt concentrated on the couple meeting and potentially getting together, Season 2 looks at some of the issues that intergenerational love can encounter. You can watch the first part of the new season of the show below.

And just in case you’re interested, Daddyhunt itself was launched by Christopher Turner, who later became the husband of acclaimed gay author Armistead Maupin. It doesn’t appear he’s involved anymore, but it seems the app/dating site is still interested in the world of gay-themed stories. [Read more…]

Although plenty of gay apps and websites have featured in web series (indeed, Grindr is almost ubiquitous), one app has gone a step further and produced its own. Early in 2016 social networking/dating site Daddyhunt released its own show, which was – unsurprisingly – about a young man hunting for his very own ‘daddy’.

Now it’s coming back for Season 2, and to get us ready a teaser has been released. The follow-up will follow the further adventures of the intergenerational couple, played by BJ Gruber and Jim Newman. Although the teaser suggests things will be a bit sexy, we’re presuming that as in Season 1, true love won’t completely be running smooth for the duo.

Take a look at the trailer below. Season 2 should be released on April 24th. [Read more…]