Category Archives: Peccadillo

Slip of the Tongue: A Glossary

Here at Peccadillo we like to think we live in an incredibly accepting society; this year the UK was named as the leader in LGBT equality in Europe. With this rise in diversity and open-mindedness we have numerous terms, old and new, being used more and more in everyday life.

Out on DVD now, 52 Tuesdays is the unique debut feature from director Sophie Hyde and one of our favourite releases this year. It explores an important aspect of our lives – the ironic constant – change. Set and filmed over the course of a year, the film tells the compelling story of James and Billie, mother and daughter, and their weekly meeting every Tuesday as James undergoes his transition from female to male and Billie from adolescence to adulthood.

Considering the power of words to help define, but also hurt when used incorrectly, we’ve put together a list to guide even the hippest of Queens:

Trans: can be used as an umbrella term to include many experiences of sex and gender: trans, transsexual, transgender, genderqueer etc.

Transgender: an umbrella term and identity used to describe all kinds of people who sit outside the gender binary or whose gender identity is different from the sex assigned to them at birth. May or may not feel the need to access hormone therapy and/or surgery.

Transition: transitioning often consists of a change in style of dress, selection of a new name and a request that people use the correct pronoun. This may or may not include medical care like hormone therapy, counselling and/or surgery. This can also be called ‘affirmation’. Not all trans people choose to use the word ‘transition’ to describe their experiences.

Gender: can refer to biological sex, social roles or gender identity. There are many genders, however the most commonly recognised are male and female.

Gender identity: refers to a person’s internal sense of being male, female, something other, or in between. Everyone has a gender identity regardless of whether they are trans or not.

Gender binary: is the classification of sex and gender into two separate categories of masculine and feminine. Most societies divide people into these two distinct categories which excludes many people who don’t fit neatly into either category.

Gender non-conforming: refers to people who do not identify as, or who do not express themselves as, completely male or female and/or who feel that they don’t fit into/ or prescribe to / or agree with, the gender binary of male or female.

Sexuality/Sexual orientation: the nature of a person’s basic sexual attraction to other people. i.e. straight/lesbian/bi/queer/pansexual/homosexual /heterosexual.

Cross dresser: a person who has the need to express an alternative gender identity through the way they dress and to be accepted in that role on a less permanent basis.

Drag: refers to theatrical/stage performances of gender. Includes drag kings and drag queens.

Gender affirmation (often known as gender reassignment or gender transition): the physical, legal and social process of transitioning gender. May include surgery/hormone treatment, changing name, using a different pronoun and changing your birth certificate gender.

Gender expression: is how someone presents their gender to the world. This can mean through the way a person physically presents as well as the way they act. This can be through appearance, dress, mannerisms, speech patterns and social interactions.

Gender neutral pronouns: any pronoun other than he/his/him or she/her such as it/its, they/their/them, one, heart/hearts, droid/droids or anything else that someone may choose to use.

Genderqueer: refers to people who do not identify as, or who do not express themselves as, completely male or female. Genderqueer people may or may not identify as trans.

Heteronormativity: a view implying that all people fall into only one of two genders (i.e. male or female), that there are particular roles that men and women should follow, and that heterosexuality (i.e. attraction to the opposite gender) is the only ‘normal’ sexuality.

Intersex: a general term used for a variety of people born with anatomy or physiology which differs from current ideas of male and female. This is sometimes known as indeterminate gender.

Transphobia: prejudice against, and/or fear of trans people, or anyone thought to be trans. Transphobia can include violence, harassment and discrimination as well as the general idea that says everyone must fit into male or female. Homophobia works in the same way but is aimed at anyone seen as outside heterosexuality.

Transsexuality: the medical or psychiatric term for a person who transitions from one gender to the other. People can also use ‘transsexual’ to describe themselves. Some people think that transsexuality is biological, this issue is constantly debated and often divides the trans community rather than unites it.

Transvestite: someone who dresses in the clothes usually worn by the opposite sex for fetish or arousal purposes. Transvestites, like anyone else, may be gay, lesbian, bisexual, heterosexual, queer, or something else.

Source: Gender Questioning by Trans Melbourne Gender Project, Gay and Lesbian Health Victoria & Rainbow Network Victoria, http://www.glhv.org.au/files/GQv3.pdf

All good things come to those who wait…

A few weeks shooting here, a month or two editing there and voilà you have a film. If only it were that simple. Making a film, as you probably know, is a long and arduous process; from fine-tuning the script and getting financing, to getting the right cast and crew on board and eventually rolling that camera. Then, once you think you’ve had enough, along comes the unrelenting grind that is post production: picture locking, sound mixing, colour grading and, hopefully, distribution. If you’re considering making a film, you’re best accepting now that it’ll take a couple of years. But there are those films that take longer, much longer.

As the title suggests, 52 Tuesdays wasn’t your average shoot; shot over the course of a year, once a week on a Tuesday, the film challenges the typical narrative chronology, imbuing the film with a palpable sense of tension and unpredictability that time brings with it. The film tells the story of a mother and daughter, James and Billie, who are both faced with transitions in their lives; Billie from adolescence to adulthood, her mother James transitioning from female to male.

With the VOD release of 52 Tuesdays (out now), let’s take a look at some other films that demonstrate the sheer will and perseverance of their makers.

Samsara (2011) – 4 Years

Exploring everything from the everyday to the magnificent in our world, Samsara is a sumptuous feast for your eyes. Filmed across four years, in over 24 countries, Samsara went on to become the highest grossing documentary of 2012 in the US.

Eraserhead (1977) – 5 Years

What started out as David Lynch’s student film soon became more than just a school project. The story of Henry Spencer and his baby, Eraserhead is one of the most surrealist and disturbing American films of the last fifty years. A lack of funding, and a director with a keen eye for detail, meant Lynch and co. spent five years bringing Spencer to life, with the lead actor and his wife, Jack Fisk and Sissy Spacek, providing regular donations for the production. Regardless of how long it took to make, Eraserhead proves that some things are definitely worth waiting for.

Boyhood (2014) – 12 Years

On its release last year, you couldn’t read about Boyhood without mention of its lengthy and unique production process. Following a young boy, Mason, from the age of 6 to 18 years-old, production shot once a year for twelve years. However, Boyhood is more than just its premise; the film mediates on the importance of childhood, the uncertainty of time and what it is to be human. The extended production process gave the director, Linklater, the opportunity to reconsider and change creative decisions with the edit years later.

Lake of Fire (2006) – 16 Years

Taking sixteen years and $6 million dollars of his own money, Tony Kaye’s documentary takes an unbiased and unafraid look at both sides of the abortion debate in the United States. Self-financed and self-shot, Kaye’s 152 minute documentary is considered by some to be the definitive guide to the ever on-going abortion argument and more than justifies the decade and a half it took to make.

Sleeping Beauty (1959) – 8 Years

We all know the story of Sleeping Beauty, but did you know that it took eight years to make this Disney classic? Granted animated films take more time to make than their live action siblings, but eight years was a considerable amount of time for the Disney powerhouse back in the 1950s. The reason? Well, the film was essentially shot twice; first on a sound stage with stand in actors, which provided the animators with a reference for each shot. Surprisingly the film performed poorly at the box-office but audiences gradually came around and it’s now considered one of the greatest Disney films ever made.

Movie 43 (2012) – 4 Years

A collection of comedy shorts, Movie 43 was filmed over the course of four years due to the schedules of the ensemble cast, including Kate Winslet, Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Uma Thurman, Emma Stone, Richard Gere, Julianne Moore and Chris Pratt. Sadly, Movie 43 proves that taking your time doesn’t necessarily guarantee a great, even mediocre, film, with the film panned by critics and cinemagoers alike.

Everyday (2007) – 5 Years

Before Boyhood made it cool, Michael Winterbottom’s TV movie Everyday used time to its best ability. Set across five years of a prison sentence, the film follows the Kirk family as the father is in prison for an unspecified crime. Production happened twice a year for five years; the result is a visceral realism Ken Loach would be proud of.

52 Tuesdays is out now On-Demand and on DVD from 28th September

The Treatment: The Crime Thriller They Didn’t Want You To See

We had such an exciting ride with THE TREATMENT. When four of us saw it in the market at the Cannes Film Festival last year, we just knew that we wanted it. It was gripping, exciting and proper edge of your seat drama. Since then we’ve had a real journey to bring it to the audience. Getting involved with Mo Hayder (the author of the original novel) and the publishers, who have been brilliant at pushing information about the film out to the fans of the Mo’s books. Continue reading →

High Heels and High Kicks at Picturehouse Central

Picturehouse Central was host last Sunday to the most fabulous afternoon of glitter, sparkle and song. The Soho Premiere of Colin Rothbart’s DRESSED AS A GIRL was the final film to play the sparkly new West End venue in the current run of this year’s hugely successful POUTfest Tour (which also includes 52 TUESDAYS, A GIRL AT MY DOOR and SOFT LAD).

Continue reading →

So do I call you dad now? Check this clip from 52 TUESDAYS

Check out this clip from 52 TUESDAYS, where Billie has dinner with her father, James, who will always be Billie’s mother. It’s a lovely clip from a film we’re very proud of, and also very proud to say it’ll be playing up and down the country in VUE cinemas on September 10th 2015, as part of our POUTFest tour, along with short film SURPRISE.

Book tickets here: http://bit.ly/52TuesVUE

Continue reading →

THE TREATMENT has terrified and enticed UK film critics

Hans Herbots’ terrifying and controversial feature THE TREATMENT, based on the bestselling novel by UK crime writer Mo Hayder, is screening at cinemas across the UK this weekend. Only at selected venues that are brave to show it

Now that it’s been unleashed on the UK film critics, I don’t think they have seen anything like it for a while. Take a look below at what just a handful of the press are saying on the film:

“THE TREATMENT brought me close to a panicked run for the cinema door on a number of occasions, but I held steady… Clever editing and atmospheric cinematography makes a tense and powerful drama.”

– Kate Muir, The Times

“It will certainly find its audience among fans of Nordic noir classics such as THE KILLING and French drama THE SPIRAL… [THE TREATMENT] crawls under your skin and remains there long after.”

– The Sun

“Harrowing but brilliant… Taut, tense and at times very close to being too disturbing to watch, THE TREATMENT is a fine adaptation by Belgian director Hans Herbots of a novel by British crime-writer Mo Hayder…. Just be aware you might not be able to stop thinking about it for some time afterwards.”

– The Daily Mail

“Claustrophobic and disquieting, put over with gruesome conviction… Gripping and brutal Belgium Noir”

– Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

THE TREATMENT is unlikely anything we’ve released before, but you HAVE to see this film. It’s an unforgettable emotional juggernaut, by turns terrifying and totally compelling, and though it’s shocked critics, cinemas and audiences up and down the country, we’re proud to be bringing THE TREATMENT to the UK – dare you see it?

The Musical Panorama of FUTURO BEACH

For those of you who haven’t seen it, the music in FUTURO BEACH is one of the film’s most unforgettable aspects. Much of director Karim Ainouz’s inspiration for the epic and vivid film came from David Bowie’s enduring masterpiece HEROES, which perfectly captures that mood of hope and ambition and danger that the film is all about. Take a look below to see what Karim said about the ‘musical panorama’ he tried to create in the soundtrack:

Music. It’s funny, when we started to write the movie, to picture it, Heros by Bowie always came to mind. I didn’t know then that it was an emblematic track in Cristiane F. – Wir Kinder von Bahnhof Zoo (1981). It was just one of my favorite songs of all time. I thought the movie should somehow have the tone of that song.

I love to use songs in my films and have a special relationship with pop songs, which transport me in time. I have done that with all my previous films. But here I felt we also needed something else, not just songs but
also an original score, written for the characters, for certain situations. I wanted to have a kind of personal theme for them.

And that’s when Hauschka came in. We had never worked together before and in the beginning we were figuring each other out. But it was a great process. I think his sensibility was very precise and very keen to the film’s tone. The first thing I told him was: don’t be afraid to be sentimental – as part of our flirtation with melodrama…

I didn’t want the music to be underlining anything but rather to create a lyrical soundspace for the characters. And that’s what he did.
So finally the film has a very diverse musical panorama – it has original stuff from Haushcka, Aline from Christophe, songs by Suicide, Khaled, Bowie, and Michael Meyer. Once again, it is impure, but somehow, close to my heart.

FUTURO BEACH is available On-Demand and on DVD from 24th August.

Time to Discover 52 TUESDAYS

Last week we were all systems go with our release of Sophie Hyde’s “groundbreaking” (Huffington Post) feature film: 52 TUESDAYS. Sophie won Best Director at Sundance Film Festival for the film, as well as the Crystal Bear at the prestigious Berlinale, and so we were a little nervous about meeting her. Especially after a stampede of fantastic reviews galloped in as she arrived, The Guardian writing that it’s “told with ingenuity, compassion and an impressive fearlessness.”

Thankfully, she was lovely. And amazing. For someone who made such an incredible, touching film she was incredibly grounded, funny and humble. Ollie (our Head of Press), had the job of taking her from Glasgow to Brighton, Cambridge to Cardiff, via Liverpool, Manchester and several London Q&As, and they were joined by the film’s lead actress – the beautiful and irresistible Tilda Cobham-Hervey.

Here’s Sophie and Ollie looking lovely in maroon (or is that cranberry?), standing by the theatrical poster for the film (and can you spot the POUTFest poster sneaking in at the back?) at Manchester’s stunning new HOME cinema.

Also check out this snap of Sophie in action, with PHD student Clara Bradbury-Rance offering up a stimulating, funny and insightful Q&A on the film’s considerable ambition and achievement.

After Tilda (Tilly as we now know her – she’s great by the way) it was straight on to Cambridge, where the Arts Picturehouse’s shining light – Jack Toye – treated the gang to punting, cider and dinner before another great Q&A (picture below. What’s not pictured is the moment Ollie accidentally rubbed pure chilli on his eye, and spent most of the evening with his face in a bowl of milk… Classy.)

If you missed 52 TUESDAYS last week, catch it tomorrow on the big screen as it plays as part of Picturehouse’s DISCOVER TUESDAYS series and our own POUTFest tour. That means it’s playing at 20 cinemas up and down the country, on the big screen, where it belongs.

To find a screen near you head to http://poutfest.co.uk/52tuesdays/

Rebel, rebel (girls on film)

A desire to resist authority, control, and convention, these are just some of the things that come to mind when thinking about rebellion. We’ve all at some point in our lives performed a rebellious act. Refusing an order from a parent, a teacher, or a working task. When we’re told what to do and when to do it, how to act, how to feel and how to look, at what point do these authorities become too much?

A young 16 year old, Alex is a high school dropout who is considered a failure due to her mixing with bad crowds, use of drugs and self-harm. Faced with hardships at a young age, her adoptive mother sends her to a Northern German farm to work with horses. Monika Treut, director of OF GIRLS AND HORSES (2015), presents a display of misbehavior that transcends into a journey of self-discovery and a portrayal of female bonding. A beautiful story that deals with the coming of age with girls and the soothing landscapes of the most Northern tip of Germany at the ocean near the Danish border. Be sure to check this film out!

With rebellion in mind, I thought I’d take a look at rebellious heroines and the theme of female bonding in a selection of my favorite films. Sarah Hentges, in her book, Pictures of Girlhood: Modern Female Adolescence on Film, says that most mainstream films about rebellion are, for the most part, set in the past…the rebellion in these films is usually directed toward parents or society, but in some cases this rebellion has a larger goal to dismantle the structures. These behavioral patterns are triggered in moments of restriction, this upsurge is pushed further if the rebel is in the process of exploring her sexuality.

Love has no limits, especially when its up against the Chinese government. Set in the 1980’s in China, THE CHINESE BOTANIST’S DAUGHTER (2006) tells the story of a young orphan, Li Ming, who takes up an internship at a botanist’s garden and forms a sensual yet forbidden relationship with the daughter of the botanist, during a time when homosexuality was a punishable offence. The film is a beautiful story of two women who attempt to defy every rule of a totalitarian system, that in the end, love will always be the winning answer. No matter what your gender or sexual orientation is, the film brings a relatable urgency of how far one is willing to go for the person they love. The last few minutes of the film will no doubt leave you in tears.

Back track to the 1980’s streets of Los Angeles, littered with fast cars, over-the-top fashion and a group of friends who hit the streets to the theme song of ‘Nothing’s Gonna Stand In Our Way’ by John Farnham. Linda Blair stars in SAVAGE STREETS (1984), an exploitation flick that explores independence against an authoritative society, and a young teenager who must take action into her own hands. After her handicapped sister is raped at school (shot in the Pacific Palisades, the same location as Brian De Palma’s CARRIE (1976) – another film dealing with rebellious teens), Brenda seeks out revenge in a revealing tight leather outfit and cross-bow. The film highlights different levels of female bonding from a girls night out, to sibling love. While the horses in OF GIRLS AND HORSES become the catalyst between the two girls, this female bonding is expressed in the beautiful transition in which Brenda’s sensitive side is revealed only through the love she has for her sister and girlfriends, to a quick mood change of fierce attitudes and the rejection of all order. One cannot forget a naked Linda Blair in a brawl in the showers of the school locker room – a must see!

A teen movie like no other, HEAVENLY CREATURES (1994) is based on a true story from 1954 of two best friends, Juliet Hulme and Pauline Parker who form a close bond in which they both share every possible day with each other. Stuck in their own fantasy world, the concerned parents attempt to separate them. To ensure their everlasting connection, they both seek out revenge against their moralistic families. Before we all knew her as Rose from Titanic, Kate Winslet stars alongside Melanie Lynskey in this coming-of-age story; a real testament of teenage friendships and the worlds we invent to escape harsh reality. Sarah Hentges describes these girl genres as empowering in myriad ways, not only for girls and women, but for anyone who recognizes a lack of fit between mainstream expectations and reality. Rebellion in the form of murder, the girls met their tragic ending in a 5 year prison sentence, but the ultimate punishment was on the condition that the girls never see each other again.

The last film on my list breaks away from the coming-of-age genre of teen flicks. Similarly to SAVAGE STREETS, this film marks an important entry into the exploitation genre of rape revenge films which came about in the 1970s. Ms. 45 (1981) directed by Abel Ferrera, is a brutal portrayal of a young adolescent out for revenge after being savagely raped twice in the same day. Taking matters into her own hands, Thana, a mute seamstress, picks up a 45. caliber handgun and hits the streets on a killing spree. This transition from an innocent girl to a cold blooded killer is marked by the ritual process of applying red lipstick, slicking the hair back and dressing from head to toe in black, a common aesthetic in the films from this genre. While the social structures failed in moments of need, the female is then positioned in a negotiating state of unconscious decisions which consequence her final behaviors. Hentges further describes that the formal, institutional powers like school, family, religion and law make rules that girls are expected to follow, but the informal rules of adolescence that come from these structures also restrict girls’ behavior, social and sexual development.

From the coming-of-age teen films, exploitation genres to tragic teen love stories, this rebellious movement of bad-ass girls becomes a welcome departure from the typecast roles of stay at home wives and dutiful daughters, although these films deal with the breaking of structures in the form of death and murder, the beautiful moments of female bonding bridge an underlining message that women are capable of much more than being restricted to the confines of what society tells them. Looking back at OF GIRLS AND HORSES, the film is a good example of this transition of a troubled girl caught in the mix of abuse and lack of support to living on the German landscapes with horses as her form of escapism. This sudden shift of rebellion to the coming-of-age could only be achieved by the understanding of sexuality and the removal of societal expectations. In the words of Hentges: ‘hegemony does not have as tight a hold as it sometimes seems’.

Regarding Abandoned Sites and Sexual Discovery

Abandoned sites usually cause curiosity for exploration and adventure. There’s a sense of excitement when we are surrounded by uncertainty and a thirst for danger. These sites also allow for a chance to remove oneself from everyday life and have a moment of self-reflection. From a young age, while exploring my sexuality, I can recall finding hidden spaces and out of the way locations with boyfriends in which, for a brief moment, no one could tell me what to do or who to love, where we could escape society and just be together. We construct these sites for satisfying our sexual pleasures and urges, they’re made into cruising grounds, runaway spots or sites to release our destructive nature. There’s a bridge between desire and death and these will be further explored in the following 5 shorts.

With the release of our DVD of BOYS ON FILM 13: TRICK & TREAT, I look back at some of our memorable shorts from the BOYS ON FILM collections that examine these discarded spaces as sites for escapism and sexual-discovery.

Remission – Dir. Christopher Brown (Boys on Film 13)

In our latest BOYS ON FILM release, we take a look at two young men and a boy who roam the overgrown English countryside over the space of 2 years, in an attempt to escape an unknown deadly virus. The two men are forced to take a horrific decision after the boy’s behavior puts them in increasing danger. These dangers become apparent in the unknown territories these boys are positioned in, the uncertainty of what’s to come and the boy’s display of unusual behaviors which, eventually, become life threatening. Exploring abandoned houses in search for safety and supplies, there is a moment in the film in which the two young men engage in sex, possibly to relieve frustrations or, perhaps, out of love.

REMISSION is a terrifying short about survival in the unknown and the consequences of trust as a tool for life and death, the last five minutes of the film will no doubt leave you speechless.

Boys Village – Dir. Till Kleinert (Boys on Film X)

Set in St. Athan Boys Village in South Wales, a holiday camp opened in 1925 as a summer camp for the sons from families in the South Wales coalfield.

The film focuses on a young boy and his imagination – at first we’re unsure of why Kevin roams the abandoned camp while talking to his friends made of twigs and rubbish. Is he in the process of exploring? Escaping? He has been eleven years old for quite some time now. Has it been years or decades? Shattered glass and debris lay scattered all over and the countless trap falls and opportunities for injury become a haven for young boys and exploration. After witnessing a group of vandals who visit the site in a destructive manner, Kevin’s sexual curiosity is awakened when he sees a particular attractive teen.

Prora – Dir. Stéphane Riethauser (Boys on Film 9)

Prora is a good example of abandoned sites as a stimulant for sexual discovery in moments of excitement and danger. Two teenagers, Jan and Matthieu, embark on an adventure in the deserted former Nazi holiday camp and communist military complex in Germany. Whilst exploring their surroundings they put their friendship at risk. Running through the corridors in a destructive manner, smashing windows and playing rough. The two boys, high on adrenaline, end up confronting their feelings in a moment of sexual realization. The two teens end up making love across the scattered glass on the complex floors. Away from the world and positioned in an empty complex all to themselves, this triggering of emotional discovery is further heightened.

The Strange Ones – Dir. Christopher Radcliff & Lauren Wolkstein (Boys on Film 7)

An unknown destination, a man and a boy travel in search for the unknown. Finding respite in what seems to be an abandoned motel swimming pool, the two travelers are confronted by the motel owner where truth and lies become one blurring situation. On the surface all seems normal, but as the owner asks more questions, nothing is what it seems to be.

Bramadero – Dir. Julián Hernández (Boys on Film 2)

Bramadero: A place where deer and other wild animals in heat prefer to go.

Our final short explores our animalistic nature. Hassen and Jonás find a spot on the outskirts of Mexico City where they seduce one another in a merging of body and mind. The construction site holds as a playground for desire: the positioning of a mattress in the middle of the floor becomes an immediate invitation for sexual discovery. The industrial steel scaffolding acts as barriers between the two men, yet as they move in between the structures a divergence between their raw naked bodies and the man-made barriers is constructed. The uncertainty of the dangers of abandoned construction sites ultimately lead to death, as Bramadero is described as a pole animals are tied to in order to tame them or kill them.

by Serden Salih

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