Peccadillo changed the face of short filmmaking with its Boys On Film series. Since the first edition in March 2009, they’ve released nine collections of gay shorts that audiences would otherwise never have been able to see.
For the new edition, Youth In Trouble, the films centre on guys in their teens and 20s. Jack Leger spoke with three of the award-winning filmmakers featured on this ninth disc…
From Australia , Grant Scicluna won last year’s Iris Prize for his hard-hitting, emotional short ‘The Wilding’, which is set in a young offenders prison. He says the story “is about love in a harsh world, and is the only thing left standing in the end, so in some ways it’s my twisted idea of a feel-good film.” And he’s a fan of the Boys On Film series.
“I have for many years picked it up and fantasised about having a film included,” he says. “So I am really humbled to be included with such an amazing bunch of shorts, some of which I’ve seen, some of which I’ve been busting to see.”
One of these is ‘Prora’, a strongly provocative Swiss drama that had its world premiere at the BFI London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival last year. Since then, it’s been selected for more than 100 festivals, winning 13 awards. “Now I’m absolutely thrilled to be part of Boys On Film,” says writer-director Stephane Riethauser.
“This series from Peccadillo is world famous, and I’m excited to be on that DVD, along with great films that I competed with at many festivals. And also to share ‘Prora’ with an even broader audience.”
And the French short ‘It’s Not A Cowboy Film’ definitely deserves a huge audience, as French filmmaker Benjamin Parent uses an iconic movie to address gay themes. “Our main character is a bully, hanging out with other primates like him,” he says. “Then he feels something deep and emotional while watching Brokeback Mountain. And it’s interesting and funny to have a teenage bad boy confess that in the intimacy of the school toilets!”
The film won last year’s Queer Palm at Cannes. “Right now in France,” he says, “homophobia has revealed its face during the gay wedding vote. So being a part of the LGBT movement with my movie makes me proud.”
• Boys on Film 9: Youth In Trouble is out now on Peccadillo DVD, as are volumes 1 to 8. An especially sexy Volume X is due out later this year.
