Filmmakers
Cast
This is the first in a new series of original short films "Strangers, Friends + Lovers" produced by adelante films. Please check out our other film in this series: LAUNDROMAT
Just is about the after-sex acquaintance of two strangers who met online. As the two men learn more about each other, they discover that a casual hook-up is anything but.
Written by Edward Gunawan and directed by David Maurice Gil.
Written by Edward Gunawan and directed by David Maurice Gil.
addword productions
As gay filmmakers, we fight to showcase our own perspectives, our own ideas of who we are to the world, yet never more than today this has been a stagnated mono-dimensional portrayal of "us." The argument has sided to the "coming out" stories, AIDS and the like. Yes those are incredibly important issues facing us and yes we should mirror those same barriers within our art, however equally important to the building of who we are as a community are those elements revolving around everyone, especially love and relationships despite sexuality.
When I first connected with my producing partner Edward Gunawan, our conversations centered on gay films and relationships. We noticed that there was a distinct lack in the telling of those stories that didn't base themselves with the coming of age, high school, or teenaged angst that all GLBT people experience. As with all art, we feel that there is an evolution.
Representing more mature and complex relationships - as in the case of Just exploring the issues of monogamy and fidelity in our post-modern world through the eyes of these two gay characters, I believe, is the natural direction of evolution in gay cinema. As a young man, or woman who realizes that that are gay, lesbian, or transgender the idea of coming out to the world as different can be traumatic and even horrifying. When films have the courage to show these characters and how they conquer this, it is a powerful start in the right direction. However what we have seen is that which happens after the coming out is still missing. There is life after leaving the closet. There is a whole world to be lived. In our series of shorts we decided to explore that world. Representing older relationships, talking about monogamy are only the first of the elements we wish to explore.
This story is universal and its characters are completely interchangeable. That is to say, these characters do not have to be "Wayne" and "Clyde." They can be "Alice" and "Mike," or "Mary" and "Susan." It does not matter. It only shows that homosexuals or heterosexuals are all human, facing the same issues and feeling the same things. We all have the same desire to fall in love. We still can get hurt and hurt others with our actions.
The characters begin the story engrossed in an incredibly intimate situation, naked and exposed, yet they know nothing about each other besides those carnal moments they just shared. Then, as they clothe themselves and begin to protect themselves physically, they become more vulnerable as they share who they really are. At its core, Just is a film that explores how these two characters view and judge their own actions. How one character feels when he realizes that he has become that "other man." How they ask questions that never wanted to be answered. How no one wants to be cheated on and no one wants to cause that either.
It's these universalities that make us human and make the experiences of the GLBT community connect with the rest of the world. As equally important and equally powerful to that boy or girl who fears coming out they need to know that when that day comes, there is still life after the closet.
When I first connected with my producing partner Edward Gunawan, our conversations centered on gay films and relationships. We noticed that there was a distinct lack in the telling of those stories that didn't base themselves with the coming of age, high school, or teenaged angst that all GLBT people experience. As with all art, we feel that there is an evolution.
Representing more mature and complex relationships - as in the case of Just exploring the issues of monogamy and fidelity in our post-modern world through the eyes of these two gay characters, I believe, is the natural direction of evolution in gay cinema. As a young man, or woman who realizes that that are gay, lesbian, or transgender the idea of coming out to the world as different can be traumatic and even horrifying. When films have the courage to show these characters and how they conquer this, it is a powerful start in the right direction. However what we have seen is that which happens after the coming out is still missing. There is life after leaving the closet. There is a whole world to be lived. In our series of shorts we decided to explore that world. Representing older relationships, talking about monogamy are only the first of the elements we wish to explore.
This story is universal and its characters are completely interchangeable. That is to say, these characters do not have to be "Wayne" and "Clyde." They can be "Alice" and "Mike," or "Mary" and "Susan." It does not matter. It only shows that homosexuals or heterosexuals are all human, facing the same issues and feeling the same things. We all have the same desire to fall in love. We still can get hurt and hurt others with our actions.
The characters begin the story engrossed in an incredibly intimate situation, naked and exposed, yet they know nothing about each other besides those carnal moments they just shared. Then, as they clothe themselves and begin to protect themselves physically, they become more vulnerable as they share who they really are. At its core, Just is a film that explores how these two characters view and judge their own actions. How one character feels when he realizes that he has become that "other man." How they ask questions that never wanted to be answered. How no one wants to be cheated on and no one wants to cause that either.
It's these universalities that make us human and make the experiences of the GLBT community connect with the rest of the world. As equally important and equally powerful to that boy or girl who fears coming out they need to know that when that day comes, there is still life after the closet.
DAVID MAURICE GIL
Director
Director
in association with
***WINNER!***
9th PlanetOut Short Movie Awards
Top 5 Films
UPCOMING SCREENINGS
4th inDPanda International
Short Film Festival
Thursday, July 31 @ 9:45PM
(Program V: Better Together)
http://www.indpanda.com/
13th North Carolina Gay and Lesbian
Film Festival
Friday, August 15 @ 5:10 PM
and Saturday August 16 @ 11:15 PM
Carolina Theatre
(Program: Out Riding Fences)
http://festivals.carolinatheatre.org/ncglff/
Fire Island Film and Video Festival
Thursday, August 28 @ 8:00 PM
The Community House in Cherry Grove
(Closing Night)
http://www.liglff.org/fireisland.html
7th Q! Film Festival -
Jakarta + Bali, Indonesia
August 2008
http://www.qfilmfestival.org
PREVIOUS SCREENINGS
***WORLD PREMIERE***
5th Outfest Fusion: LA LGBT
People of Color Film Festival
December 2007 (Los Angeles, USA)
2nd International Psarokokalo
Short Film Festival
February 2008 (Athens, Greece)
24th Visual Communications:
Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival
May 2008 (USA)
34th Seattle International Film Festival
May 2008 (USA)
24th Boston LGBT Film Festival
May 2008 (USA)
2008 Cinemarosa - Queens Only Queer
Film Series
May 2008 (NewYork, USA)
10th Forth Worth LGBT Film Festival
June 2008 (Texas, USA)
9th PlanetOut Short Movie Awards
Top 5 Films
UPCOMING SCREENINGS
4th inDPanda International
Short Film Festival
Thursday, July 31 @ 9:45PM
(Program V: Better Together)
http://www.indpanda.com/
13th North Carolina Gay and Lesbian
Film Festival
Friday, August 15 @ 5:10 PM
and Saturday August 16 @ 11:15 PM
Carolina Theatre
(Program: Out Riding Fences)
http://festivals.carolinatheatre.org/ncglff/
Fire Island Film and Video Festival
Thursday, August 28 @ 8:00 PM
The Community House in Cherry Grove
(Closing Night)
http://www.liglff.org/fireisland.html
7th Q! Film Festival -
Jakarta + Bali, Indonesia
August 2008
http://www.qfilmfestival.org
PREVIOUS SCREENINGS
***WORLD PREMIERE***
5th Outfest Fusion: LA LGBT
People of Color Film Festival
December 2007 (Los Angeles, USA)
2nd International Psarokokalo
Short Film Festival
February 2008 (Athens, Greece)
24th Visual Communications:
Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival
May 2008 (USA)
34th Seattle International Film Festival
May 2008 (USA)
24th Boston LGBT Film Festival
May 2008 (USA)
2008 Cinemarosa - Queens Only Queer
Film Series
May 2008 (NewYork, USA)
10th Forth Worth LGBT Film Festival
June 2008 (Texas, USA)
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