Gay sexuality and football take centre stage in new short film series: Watch the first trailer
In partnership with NQV Media.
By Will Stroude
The world may still be waiting for a top-tier footballer to come out as gay, but the often formative tension between sexuality, masculinity and the globe’s most popular sport continues to inspire some of the most riveting story-telling put on film.
Now, a new short film series – The Male Gaze: Strikers and Defenders – is bringing together four of the best European tales about gay sexuality and the beautiful game in one captivating compilation – and you can watch the first full-length trailer now.
The series, which is available to watch Amazon, Vimeo and FilmDoo now, shines a light on four of the best recent LGBTQ football-themed films to come from Germany, France and the UK in recent months, with some featuring faces who might already be familiar to you…
Directed by Peter Lee Scott, Colours tells the story of youth football club member Adam, who is faced with an ultimatum when his bullying team captain discovers his best friend Tom is gay.
The British short stars Harry Jarvis, who appeared in 2019’s Vanessa Hudgens-starring Netflix comedy The Knight Before Christmas, and George Somner, who played Joe in Sex Education season two.
Meanwhile, the dark premise of Laurent Lunetta’s Play it Like a Man sees two young footballers (including The Workshop’s Matthieu Lucci) steal their teacher’s phone, only to discover pictures of their fellow teammates in the locker room showers – but is everything as it seems?
Also included in the series is Islands: Directed by Ron Jäger, it tells the story of young footballer Linus, who finds himself unable to express his true feelings for a classmate.
When he finds an unlikely ally in Mr. Kruger, seen by most as merely an odd old teacher, however, everything begins to change.
Finally, in French film Through the Fields, Pierre Prieur (Bizarre) plays one half of a pair of brothers who look out for each other when a potential romance on the pitch goes further afield.
With four seductive tales of desire, jealously and just desserts, The Male Gaze: Strikers and Defenders is one short film series not to miss whether you count yourself as a footie fan or not.
The Male Gaze: Strikers and Defenders is available to watch on Amazon, Vimeo and FilmDoo via NQVmedia, the home of LGBTQ and coming-of-age cinema.