Category Archives: Peccadillo

Peccadillo’s 2023 Summer Round-Up

As the summer (somewhat belatedly) comes to a close, we at Peccadillo are reflecting on what’s been a very busy season for us! We’ve released four marvellous films from across the globe, alongside the 23rd edition of our iconic Boys on Film collection.

Take a look at what we’ve been up to and you might find a film or two to check out!

PRIVATE DESERT

We kicked off the summer appropriately enough in Brazil with Aly Muritiba’s smouldering Brazilian drama, PRIVATE DESERT, which follows Daniel (Antonio Saboia of BACURAU fame) as he hits the road in search of the faraway stranger he has fallen in love with through an intense online affair. It is a riveting love story led by electrifying performances by Saboia and Pedro Fasanaro, complete with a perfect use of Bonnie Tyler’s iconic “Total Eclipse of the Heart” to soundtrack one of the film’s most impactful scenes.

Available on DVD and On Demand.

YOU CAN LIVE FOREVER

June saw the release of YOU CAN LIVE FOREVER, a deeply felt lesbian romance from Canadian filmmakers, Sarah Watts and Mark Slutsky, which already has attracted adoration from queer film fans on TikTok. When Jaime (Anwen O’Driscoll) is sent to live with her Jehovah’s Witness relatives, she makes an instant and unexpected connection with Marike (June Laporte), a devout Witness girl. They soon embark on an intense forbidden affair, forcing them to make the impossible choice between love and faith.

Available on DVD and on Demand.

MEDUSA

Next up was Anita Rocha da Silveira’s MEDUSA, a candy-hued psychological thriller inspired by the legendary David Lynch & Dario Argento. By day, Mariana (Mari Oliveira) and her girlfriends cultivate the image of the perfect god-fearing women. By night, they become a brutal vigilante girl gang, hunting those they deem sinners – but when an attack goes violently wrong, Mariana begins to question her chosen path. Noted by Mark Kermode as “confirming da Silveira as a killer talent to watch”, MEDUSA is a wild genre-bending ride that takes aim at Bolsonaro-era fascist Brazil.

Available on Demand.

BOYS ON FILM 23: DANGEROUS TO KNOW

Zachary Quinto & Russell Kahn in CHAPERONE (part of BOYS ON FILM 23).

BOYS ON FILM made its enticing return with its 23rd (and penultimate!) edition, DANGEROUS TO KNOW. Featuring ten films from exciting directors all across the globe, this collection showcases how the dangerous allure of a risky attraction can yield emotional results – proving that the age-old adage of taking the plunge is as relevant – and sexy – as ever before. It even features Star Trek’s Zachary Quinto as a mysterious but hot “chaperone” in one of its stand-out shorts – what more could one want?

Available on DVD/Blu-ray and On Demand.

LIE WITH ME

Finally, we had the delight of releasing the gorgeous romantic drama LIE WITH ME into cinemas in August. Beautifully adapted from the best-selling novel by Philippe Besson, Olivier Peyon’s film follows successful writer Stéphane Belcourt as he returns to his hometown – only to encounter the son of his first love Thomas. Moving and superbly acted by its whole cast, the film confronts the painful ghosts of past lies and truths, weaving a powerful tale of love lost and found again.

Available on demand. Also available to pre-order on DVD/Blu-ray.

What a summer it has been. We’d be sad its over, but we’re already excited to bring you even more incredible LGBTQ+ and world cinema this autumn! Keep an eye out for what’s coming next and until then,

Much love from Peccadillo x

Peccadillo at BFI Flare 2023

Another year of the BFI Flare festival has drawn to a close and it has been another exciting edition for Peccadillo Pictures, with two new films debuting and a Sofa Club streamed straight from the BFI to boot.

Our special Flare Sofa Club was a landmark for the series by becoming the first ever in-person edition. Complete with an actual sofa and a line-up of exciting festival guests, we broadcasted live from BFI Southbank to an audience of filmmakers and film fans. The guests included directors of some of the festival’s buzziest titles, such as Kokomo City’s D Smith, Before I Change My Mind’s Trevor Anderson, and 1946’s Sharon ‘Rocky’ Roggio, alongside Flare programmer, Rhianna Ilube. The always delightful Chris New hosted our discussion, tracking the filmmaker’s journeys to Flare and the queer stories that shape their films. If you haven’t already, check out the full Sofa Club on our YouTube Channel:

The first of our films to appear in the festival was Lie With Me, for which we were joined by its director and screenwriter, Olivier Peyon. Based on the acclaimed and best selling novel, Arrête avec tes mensonges by Philippe Besson, it follows a gay novelist who is haunted by his past when he returns to his hometown after thirty-five years. He is stunned to meet Lucas, the son of his first teenage romance Thomas, and the two search for answers from the wounds in their pasts left by him.

(Left to right) Curator, Brian Robinson and Olivier Peyon at the audience Q&A for *Lie With Me* at BFI Flare 2023

Its moving story of the intoxicating force of first love was met by rave reviews from the audiences of its two sold-out screenings. Olivier joined the audience for a fascinating Q&A after the film, discussing how he adapted the novel, casting the young stars of the flashback scenes alongside the French stars and the accidental story of finding his most important and beautiful location for the film. Cinerama has already declared it “one of the year’s best films”, while Shadows on the Wall noted that the film was “romantic, sexy and provocative in the way it challenges us to meaningfully confront our own history.”

For our next film we presented the European premiere of Golden Delicious, a charming coming-of-age romance from Canada. It is the first feature of director Jason Karman, who joined us for the festival, alongside the film’s dreamy love interest Chris Carson and producer Kristyn Stilling. The film focuses on Jake, an Asian-Canadian teenager weighed by the expectations and pressure put on him by his father and long-term girlfriend. It’s only when Aleks, a handsome and openly gay Basketball whiz, moves across the road that Jake begins to discover what he really wants.

(Left to right) Jason Karman, Chris Carson and Kristyn Stilling at BFI Flare 2023.
Image credit: Getty Images

Jason spoke passionately about his desire to show that queer Asians could lead a film, be sexy and have a happy ending – qualities that shined through in the film’s refreshing exploration of queer identity and Asian representation. Critics have already echoed this, calling the film “exciting, refreshing and heartwarming” (Showbiz Report) and remarking on the “richly layered” story (The Reviews Hub). The audiences at Flare equally embraced these qualities and contributed to two lively post-film Q&As with the team, who shared their experiences making the film come to life with a very limited budget as well as their most memorable moments (look out for Chris’s lap dance when the film releases!)

We are so excited to release both these films so keep your eyes peeled for release dates coming soon, where you may even get some more exclusive Flare content!

A WHITE, WHITE DAY

A Peccadillo Virtual Cinema Release

Cinemas have now been closed across the UK for more than 100 days. Recently it was announced that doors may open from July 4th, although some will open their doors this July, there will be limited capacity to maintain social distancing. Many Art House screens in the UK, that regularly show our films, are looking to open around August / September time. Some are even planning for a later reopening.

While some cinemas will be able to play A WHITE, WHITE DAY inside their auditoriums during the next few months, many cannot. Therefore we have teamed up with local Cinemas across the UK to launch a “Virtual Cinema Release” on Friday 3rd July. Cinemas will be opening the film virtually from their websites, on over 30 screens.

You can show support to your local cinema by watching A White White Day embedded on the cinema website or by clicking on the url from the cinema domain to the Vimeo On Demand page. The film rental revenue generated will be shared with the cinema venue, just like when you book a ticket in person.

It is truly wonderful to have cinema venues on board with our ‘virtual cinema release’ for A WHITE, WHITE DAY.

You can find participating cinemas here:

WWW.AWHITEWHITEDAYFILM.COM

From Goddess to Satanist – Making Mansfield 66/67

We talked to MANSFIELD 66/67 directors P.David Ebersole and Todd Hughes about their devilish documentary which spotlights the mysterious final years of Hollywood bombshell Jayne Mansfield.

Jayne Mansfield and Anton LaVey

Jayne’s uneasy intersection with that moment of American history meshed perfectly with our common interests in people who live as outsiders, especially those who experience a questioning of faith and how that expands an acceptance of mans’ multiplicitous nature, be it expressed in sexually adventurous behaviour or non-traditional paths in life. All very heady thoughts when you are talking about an alleged affair between a woman known best for having the body measurements of 40-21-35 and a man who liked to wear plastic devil horns and a red cape to impress girls!

Together, for close to twenty years now, we have researched and collected Jayne and Anton literature and artifacts trying to piece together this mysterious story as a narrative feature script. But we found ourselves not very interested in the “simple” idea of making an exposé where we were might try to dig past the rumours and legends to expose the absolute truth, but rather found ourselves fascinated by creating a celebration of the storytellings and spectacles which have ingrained themselves into the lore and accepted truths of Hollywood Babylon. For instance, although it has been disproven many times, many people today still insist that Jayne Mansfield was decapitated, preferring to hold on to the gory hearsay in lieu of accepting the reported facts. Why? What is more interesting about that which may not be true but lives on in the collective unconscious?

Mansfield 66/67 Documentary

First, we set out to interview subjects with not just first hand experience of either Jayne or Anton, but hopefully people who might hold deeper thoughts about either or both of them and/or their alleged relationship with each other. We reached out to find contemporaries who may or may not have been their colleagues, artists who expressed being influenced by one or the other, theorists and feminists who might have a take on it all, film scholars who could put their careers into context with each other, experts in Hollywood gossip — essentially a melting pot of people who could only comment on what they heard rather than who could, say, confirm the veracity of the stories being told.

On an artistic level, we felt that telling this as a “true story based on rumour and hearsay” required that we created our supporting material in the same vein. This is what inspired us to use what we call emotional dance numbers and experimental film and performance sketches to ruminate and try to understand the extraordinary circumstances which lead up to Jayne’s tragic death.

Directors P.David Ebersole and Todd Hughes at a Q&A screening of Mansfield 66/67.

MANSFIELD 66/67 is available on DVD and On-Demand from the 25th June. Read more here.

The Wound – When Controversy Prompts Conversation

John Trengove’s debut feature and Oscar-shortlisted film, THE WOUND (INEXBA), has been bestowed with accolades and critical acclaim; going on to sweep the South African Film and Television Awards this past month. With such success, there was always bound to be a degree of controversy. As with any hard-hitting film that delves into themes of sexuality, masculinity and culture; finding a consensus can be difficult, if not impossible.

The controversy in question focuses on the way in which the film handles its depiction of the Xhosa ethnic group and the rite-of-passage ceremony these young men are put through as they transition to manhood. A call to ban the film was effectively successful in South Africa but has since been overturned, allowing it a full run in cinemas. Critics of the ban and controversy have pointed to an inherent homophobia that underlines the backlash – claims that are exacerbated by the fact the film hadn’t even been released when the controversy began to emerge.

Nevertheless, isn’t any dialogue surrounding a LGBT film helpful? Isn’t a film like this essential in reaching out to queer black men and women in the 8 million strong Xhosa ethic group? Shouldn’t Cinema provide a voice to those who are oppressed?

First and foremost we must address the very nature of the controversy and how some have argued that the film exposes private and secretive cultural traditions. Furthermore, critics have contended that the filmmakers had no right to explore these customs; attacking the film as an appropriation and distortion of their culture. However, the films depiction of these traditions is never exploited. Rather, director John Trengove directly avoids graphically depicting the ceremonial event and maintains a level of ambiguity that respects the culture but also underlines the focus of the film: a love affair between two men.

When a film such as THE WOUND is classified as R-rated and essentially deemed ‘pornographic’, isn’t it essential to debate these issues? Oppressive and draconian reactions to the tougher aspects of the film are an attack on both free-speech and art itself. With cinema, audiences are given the opportunity to submerge themselves in different cultures, ideas and mind-sets. To be transported, shocked and even inspired.

John Trengove argues that the setting of the film is in direct resistance to ideas perpetuated by many African leaders; some whom have suggested homosexuality is un-African and a symptom of western decadence. In an interview with Peccadillo our friend the film’s director stated: “We knew we wanted to tell a story about same-sex desire in a specifically African culture”, directly challenging African taboos around homosexuality that has been embedded into their culture. The filmmaker’s bold storytelling not only opposes these beliefs, it also encourages a much-needed conversation.

Devoid of the freedom that cinema can provide, people are bound to be more close-minded, more Orwellian and more muted. Cinema – no matter how hard-hitting – gives us all a voice.

So, endeavour to go and see THE WOUND when it hits UK cinemas on 27^th April 2018; make up your own mind about the film and engage in a much-needed dialogue with those around you. That’s what Cinema is all about!

Drawing Gabrielle by writer/director Lisa Gornick

What happens when a lesbian wants to be a man and then meets a man who makes her change her mind?

The Book of Gabrielle is a comedy about a woman who is writing a graphic book about sex. She meets Saul, an older novelist who also writes about sex and the writing of whom she absorbed since she was a child. He gets off on her being a lesbian, she wants to explore her inner man through him. Would they unblock each other or get in each other’s way?

All my three features are self-portraits but not autobiography. They’re drawings of who I am, not realistic photographs. So with this film I know I have a man within me. I also know that man has ways about him that I would detest in a real man. That’s the nub of the film in a way, exploring our inner men, even if they’re outrageous.

The Book of Gabrielle is a lot about sex but with hardly any sex scenes. I am in a quandary about sex scenes. I’m not sure I like them but that makes me want to explore them. It’s such a sensitive, intimate thing to portray and it’s been done so terribly often by ridiculous men whose imagery I have to wash out from my head so I don’t take it to bed with me.

Alongside asking myself, who is my inner man, when I made this film, I was thinking about what a cinema is and also what watching a film is. Making a film is finite. You come to the final edit and you have to let it go. There’s something satisfying in that too. You can move on. But what if the film is made not in such a strict three-act-structure, narrative way? What if, like The Book of Gabrielle feature film, it’s a film that asks questions too, doesn’t tell you what to think.

I have a brain, a mind, a lifestyle even, that is hybrid and fluid. For most of my life so far, I’ve been told this isn’t right. You have to choose…but no, I think we are all more than just one path. We have our other lives that we sometimes dream of, yearn for, and I wanted to make a project that allowed me to do that. I draw, I perform, I make film. So I wanted a project that would let the ideas come and come out from various platforms.

I think the feature film is the kind of heavy rock at the centre of the piece. It’s a luscious grand thing. I can’t change it. The only people that can change it now are the audience who come to it and read their own lives and ideas into it.

BEACH RATS – The Origin

Writer / Director Eliza Hittman talks about the original ideas behind her award winning film BEACH RATS.

BEACH RATS

When Eliza Hittman’s debut feature, IT FELT LIKE LOVE, premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, it was hailed as a refreshingly unsentimental, original and visually poetic portrait of a teenage girl’s sexual coming-of-age. Hittman was lauded as a filmmaker to watch, and the accolades continued as IT FELT LIKE LOVE played additional festivals and went into theatrical release in 2014. Richard Brody of The New Yorker named it one of the 20 best films of 2014 and wrote “Even as the movie delves deep into the characters’ complex emotional lives, it subtly and gradually—yet ineluctably—conjures a world that I was sorry to leave. I didn’t want the movie to end.”

Hittman knew she would be expected to tell another female-centered story with her second feature, but she wanted to challenge industry assumptions and herself as a filmmaker. She wanted to continue to plumb the outer and inner lives of young people, but chose a different focus. “I grew up in a family where all conversations around sexuality were taboo. I watched someone be brutalized because of their sexuality, but I’ve been barred from writing about my family specifically. My firsthand experiences with homophobia haunt my youth and inspired me to tell a story about a character wrestling with sexuality. I wanted to take on something that was very masculine, and explore the intense pressures on young men to live traditionally masculine lives in an environment with no clear alternative, role model or way out.” BEACH RATS began production on July 25, 2016, and shot for 25 days in different parts of Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island.

In considering a setting for the story, she was drawn back to the South Brooklyn working-class neighborhoods of IT FELT LIKE LOVE. A native of Flatbush, Brooklyn, Hittman came to know the borough’s coastal communities through high school friends who lived in places like Manhattan Beach. “I’ve always been a little bit fascinated with those neighborhoods and I’d spend a lot of the summer just flopping around those beaches,” she says. “It’s a part of Brooklyn that feels caught between past and present. Those areas have a history of violence of all kinds–crimes against people of color and gay men, and organized crime–and, unlike other parts of the City, change has come very slowly.

Harris Dickinson plays Frankie in BEACH RATS

Her image of the main character in BEACH RATS came from a Facebook image she’d found while researching wardrobe and set design for IT FELT LIKE LOVE. “It was a guy standing at a mirror holding his phone, with a big flash from the camera,” she says. “He had his shirt off and this hat on, and the visor was sort of masking his eyes. It looked like he was about to pull down his gym shorts and take a picture of his dick. There was this tension between hyper-masculine and homoerotic that the picture so clearly illustrated.”

At the same time, Hittman also became interested in Internet-related violence in the LGBTQ community, violence that has had a significant presence in these outer reaches of the City as a microcosm of events that happen throughout the world. The horrifying nature and similarities within stories where dating sites are used to lure people into sexual encounters that end with robbery, beatings, and even death. Hittman says “it’s a very dark subject, one that I know will have a divergent response as it’s a difficult topic that continually recurs.”

From there, Hittman started building out the world of Frankie, a 19-year-old facing an aimless summer at an uncertain moment in his life. His father is in the last stages of cancer, dying in hospice care in the family living room. Frankie spends his days killing time, getting high and hanging out with three delinquent fellow beach rats. At home, he squirrels himself away in the basement, where he can flirt with older men online without anyone knowing. But when a self-assured, sexy local girl named Simone makes a play for him on a Friday night at Luna Park, he awkwardly goes along with it.

Eliza Hittman writer / director of BEACH RATS

The Boys are Back for Christmas

The second BOYS ON FILM of 2017 is arriving a touch later than usual, but presents the perfect antidote to Christmas viewing, either on DVD or in high definition On Demand. As you know BOYS ON FILM is the world’s most successful short film anthology series, now with it’s seventeenth edition aptly titled LOVE IS THE DRUG. Here’s a run down of the nine films in this collection along with links to interviews that their directors did with Gay Star News.

ALEX AND THE HANDYMAN

Dir. Nicholas Colia (USA) 14 mins

When Alex, a precious nine-year-old boy, develops a crush on Jared, the moody twenty-five-year-old handyman who works in the mansion where he lives, he will stop at nothing to get his attention.

Read the interview with director Nicolas Colia HERE

NICHOLAS COLIA is a Brooklyn-based filmmaker who recently graduated from NYU Graduate Film School. Alex and the Handyman is his graduation film, it screened at Palm Springs International ShortFest and Outfest and has since won numerous awards. He is currently finishing work on a new short, a TV series and a feature film.

MR SUGAR DADDY

Dir. Dawid Ullgren (Sweden) 13 mins

Fifty-something Hans is looking for a fresh start. When he is pursued by the handsome younger Andrej, he falls for him fast. As the pair get closer, his wallet becomes looser. Is Andrej interested in Hans, or just the perks of an older man?

Read the interview with director Dawid Ullgren HERE

Dawid Ullgren studies directing at the Stockholm Academy of Dramatic Arts. Dawid has previously directed the award-winning shorts Karma is a Bitch (2014) and Love at 03:56 (2013). Dawid also works as a casting assistant in Sweden, and holds a diploma in screenplay writing from Alma Writer College.

SPOILERS (Iris)

Dir. Brendon McDonall (UK, Australia) 22 mins

Leon’s loved and lost. Scarred by his experiences, his life takes a turn for the better when he meets the ideal man. Life seems full of possibility again, but what if he knew the ending before it even began?

Read the interview with director Brendon McDonall HERE

Brendon is a director, screenwriter and actor. His short film, All God’s Creatures, won numerous awards, including Best Film and Best Director at the 2014 Sydney Mardi Gras Film Festival and the prestigious international Iris Prize in 2014.

Brendon won the AFTRS/Foxtel Award for Exceptional Talent and was Associate Director to Ian Watson on the ABC series Janet King. His previous short films include The Law, Midnight Blue, All God’s Creatures and The Dam.

TELLIN’ DAD

Dir. André D Chambers (UK) 15 mins

A year into his relationship, Dan finally agrees to come out to his family. He writes letters to all of them. As each arrives, he deals with the aftermath, until there’s only one left… Starring Ricky Tomlinson (The Royle Family)

Read the interview with writer / producer Carl Loughlin HERE

André D Chambers studied Digital Film Making at the SAE Institute in Liverpool. His previous short films include Trip, a silent film about homelessness in Liverpool, and Thomas which screened at multiple film festivals around the world. Andre is currently working on short film Nam set in the Vietnam War.

BOYS

Dir. Eyal Resh (USA) 14 mins

Set on the first day of summer, Brian sleeps over at Jake’s house, as they have done countless times before. This night however, the two encounter unfamiliar desires that illuminate a new side of themselves.

Read the interview with director Eyal Resh HERE

Eyal Resh was born in Haifa, Israel in 1988. After graduating from the film department at Thelma Yellin High School of the Arts in Tel Aviv, he went on to do the Film Directing MFA Program at California Institute of the Arts (CalArts). His films were chosen to be part of the CalArts prestigious show case and are now playing in festivals all over the world. Today, Eyal is focusing on narrative story telling using live action film making, animation and photography.

HOLE (Iris)

Dir. Martin Edralin (Canada) 15 mins

A daring portrait of a disabled man yearning for intimacy in a world that would rather ignore him.

The interview with director Martin Edralin will appear later.

Martin Edralin is a Toronto-based filmmaker and producer. Welcome to La Hesperia, shot in Ecuador, was his first documentary short. It was followed by several other award-winning short films, including Sara & Jim, The Tragedy of Henry J. Bellini and Jane. Hole won numerous awards around the world and has screened at over 100 international film festivals, including Toronto and Sundance. He is currently developing two feature film projects.

HAPPY AND GAY

Dir. Lorelei Pepi (USA) 10 mins

A queer revisionist history of 1930’s black and white cartoons, Happy and Gay is a musical cartoon inspired by the power of representation.

Read the interview with director Lorelei Pepi HERE

Lorelei Pepi is an American award-winning animation artist whose work engages with issues of identity and representation, the sexual body, gender and LGBT issues. Using animation‘s various forms, her materials and treatments range from the highly experimental to the character-driven narrative, lyrical and personal (Grace), to the socio-political queer cartoon (Happy & Gay). She teaches Animation at Emily Carr University of Art & Design in Vancouver, Canada.

PEDRO

Dir. André Santos and Marco Leão (Portugal) 24 mins

When Pedro gets home at dawn exhausted, he is dragged to the beach by his loving mother. Initially reluctant, his interest is peaked when he catches the eye of a handsome stranger by the water.

Read the interview with directors Andre Santos and Marco Leao HERE

André Santos and Marco Leão started their long-lasting collaboration in 2008. Since then, they co-directed Our necessity for comfort, Wild Horses, Infinite, and the award-winning Bad Blood. André also works as a cinematographer, and Marco as a sound operator.

KISS ME SOFTLY

Dir. Anthony Schatteman (Belgium) 16 mins

An unexpected kiss from a friend brings a shaft of light to 17-year-old Jasper’s dull existence. It provides the spark he needs to embrace who he is, but how can he persuade his self-involved father to do the same?

The interview with director Anthony Schatteman will appear later.

Anthony studied film directing and holds a Master’s degree in Film Studies and Visual Culture from the University of Antwerp. KISS ME SOFTLY, his graduation film, was based on his relationship with his father and won him the 2012 Humo award at Leuven International Short Film Festival. Anthony’s work regularly explores difficult LGBT themes and is filmed in his own distinctive visual style.

Special Features for BOYS ON FILM 17: LOVE IS THE DRUG

Director’s Introduction for Spoilers

The Making of Kiss Me Softly

Trailers for Alex and the Handyman, Hole and Happy & Gay

The Levelling – Making a Trailer

THE LEVELLING – making the trailer

Mike Tang

A trailer is about 90 seconds. Sounds easy right? Nope.

Trailers are hard – which is why we hand the work off to our super-talented editor Claire! (Joking aside, we here at Peccadillo do have some input…) So, to take you into the magic of what goes on here, this is a quick rundown on how we do it and some of the thoughts that go into it.

Watch the film
It always starts with the film. We watch it, watch it again and then again.

This lets us decide on the direction we want to take it in terms of marketing. Is there anything there we’d like to highlight and show off in a trailer? Lines of dialogue, scenes, getting the tone and emotion spot on. We’re trying to set the appropriate tone and feel that will show the film off at its best.

Editing, editing, still editing…
Then we call in our editor, Claire. (Fans of lesbian film and culture, you really have to take a look at her work.)

We give her our take on the film and she can add her input. Claire stitches together the scenes and music that puts our vision into 90 seconds. It’s not a quick process and we may work through several versions before we’re happy.

For THE LEVELLING, the film’s a stunning drama powered by the towering performances of Ellie Kendrick (Game of Thrones) and David Troughton (The Archers). We wanted to highlight that. The mood, the beauty of the film, the interplay and inherent drama between Ellie and David’s characters, the feelings we had when we first watched the film.

In the edit suite to finalise the trailer.

Finishing touches
We add in some strong review quotes for the film. Why? Well, we think our films are pretty good and so we’re going to shout about it.

Next is the sound. It’s here that we sometimes work with a sound studio. For THE LEVELLING, the wizards at Tamborine have been working their magic. They work on effects, the dialogue, the music – anything that you can hear, they can work on and improve. It’s about creating the mood to match the video, to fit the mood and direction that we want.

We took a trip to Tamborine’s studio to review their work and the difference it makes is incredible. As any cinephile will tell you, sound adds a huge dimension of atmosphere to images on screen.

Harder than it looks
Did you notice a theme? One word: we. It’s a team effort, both from technical and creative standpoints.

The trailer for THE LEVELLING is out now. Hopefully, you’ll have an insight into what we were thinking when it came to putting it together.

In the meantime, keep up with news on THE LEVELLING on Facebook and Twitter.

Blimey, this was a bit long-winded
Just wait till I write about how we do posters.

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Ellie Kendrick

Our Top 10 Bestselling DVDs of 2016 & Interview with Tom

What a dramatic year 2016 was for films, dramatic in other ways too, but we’re going to focus on the films. To get an industry insider’s perspective we’re bringing you an exclusive interview with our MD Tom Abell to get his take on a wonderful year of films and the changes affecting our industry.

But first; to celebrate a bumper year at Peccadillo Pictures we’re taking you on a tour of our top 10 bestselling DVDs of the year. We searched the world to bring you the most thought-provoking, entertaining and captivating films possible. Whether they were hidden gems like GIRLS LOST or global behemoths like EMBRACE OF THE SERPENT, each DVD is etched with our passion, love and care. Enjoy.

10 THEO & HUGO

The steamy French romance that was ‘too sexy’ for most cinemas, careened into tenth place despite being one of our last releases of the
year.

09 CLOSET MONSTER

A beautiful 21^st century “coming of age” tale complete with teenage angst, a thumping electronica score and an Isabella Rossellini-voiced Hamster.

08 The GIRL KING

Our captivating drama based on the scandalous life of Queen Kristina of Sweden, and her “royal bed-warmer” Countess Ebba Sparre.

07 CHEMSEX

A brave and unflinching journey into the hidden world of modern, urban gay life. Told through the eyes of ‘slammers’, survivors and the health workers fighting to protect them.

06 BOYS ON FILM 14: WORLDS COLLIDE

Once again the powerhouse that is Boys on Film has been a top seller this year, worlds collide in more ways than one in this stunning collection of award winning short films.

05 BOYS ON FILM 15: TIME & TIED

A sensation as always, the latest Boys on Film collection is our hottest to date. Between a time traveling closet, a 1976 trouser bar and a “zombie infested” sauna, it will have you re-examining your concept of time, age and the ties that bind us.

04 HOLDING THE MAN

The powerful true life story of a forbidden high school romance that was to last a lifetime. Holding the Man will have your heart plunging and soaring. Australian gay cinema has never been so strong.

03 DEPARTURE

An intimate film about love, loss and moving on that charts the beginning of the end of a mother’s marriage, the coming of age of her sexually confused son and an awakening that will make or break their new, unfamiliar family. Juliet Stevenson soars in this beautiful British drama set against the stunning backdrop of southern France.

02 THE GERMAN DOCTOR

A lonely 12-year-old girl unknowingly becomes friends with one of the world’s most terrifying Nazi war criminals in this dark, intense thriller. Based on true events, THE GERMAN DOCTOR will have your skin crawling and heart pumping all the way up to it’s dramatic, final minutes. This “Mesmerising and haunting” Argentinian film was a huge success across the board, particularly in stores.

01 EMBRACE OF THE SERPENT

Karamakate, a warrior shaman and last of his tribe, transcends the worlds of men and seeks truth through their dreams. Based on the diaries of Theodor Koch Grunberg and Richard Evans Schultes, the only known accounts of many Amazonian cultures, this extraordinary “Oscar nominated” film was destined for our top spot.

So, which ones have you seen? Which titles do you need to see? Get in touch with us on Facebook or Twitter and let us know!

We’re immensely proud of our top 10, and the contribution Peccadillo Pictures has brought to the film world. Our Managing Director Tom Abell, he’s been in the business a “long time” and knows it inside out. Tom’s taken some time out of his very busy schedule to give us a quick interview about the past year at Peccadillo Pictures, the changing face of Film Distribution and our biggest hit of 2016.

Did you have any idea how successful EMBRACE OF THE SERPENT was going to be?

TOM: We thought it was going to be successful, we knew that it would do well but no, its actual success was far greater than we expected. It was a wonderful surprise that the audience in the UK and Ireland took to the film as passionately as we had.

You’re passionate about finding new ways of getting films out there, what has been your most exciting distribution project?

TOM: Well, our most amazing campaign was for cinema release of EMBRACE OF THE SERPENT – most definitely. Every aspect of our promotion and marketing of the film worked perfectly in every single area. I can honestly say that in hindsight there isn’t one single thing that we would change, and it’s not often you can say that.

I think it’s the best campaigns we’ve ever done and we won the Screen Award specifically for that campaign. Getting that recognition from the industry itself was one of the highlights of last year.

Are there any films that you think were unsung heroes of 2016?

TOM: GIRLS LOST. It’s a very special film with lots of important social and sexual commentary, but at no point is it overbearing or preachy. Every country in the world has had problems marketing it, because it’s difficult to define a single audience for it – do you target a gay audience, a lesbian or trans audience or do you market it as a Disney film with a dark side?

It took us a long time, but I do think we got the tone spot on. Unfortunately, it hasn’t yet translated into sales, despite great acclaim from critics like Mark Kermode. It’s a little gem that many people still have to discover.

Peccadillo Pictures will be seventeen years old this year, how has the industry changed in that time and what have been the most dramatic shifts?

TOM: It’s changed enormously, the biggest change has been the move from 35mm to digital for projection in cinemas, and whilst it was supposed to make things more diverse it’s done the opposite. It’s made it much harder for smaller films to get into cinemas and now allows most of the cinemas to play the same films, which is not just pointless its tragic.

Obviously some screens do offer a more diverse selection of films and we applaud those cinemas who are still supporting non-Hollywood films.

How has VOD (Video On Demand) changed the way you distribute home entertainment?

TOM: While our VOD side is growing considerably year on year, it hasn’t yet replaced the revenue we were getting from DVDs. While we’re maybe not making as much money from it as we were in the good old days of DVD It is growing well and I’m quite confident that our success with VOD will continue to grow. For example we’re one of a handful of film distribution companies who have their own own page on iTunes, we have our own Peccadillo Player which is powered by Vimeo and every quarter our VOD sales on Amazon are increasing considerably, so the VOD side is really moving upwards for us.

Thank you for taking the time to read our blog, you can also keep up with the incredible adventures of the winking black cat on our Facebook and Twitter pages. Check back regularly for exciting new updates, exclusive content and information on our upcoming films before anyone else.