“French Gay Bullies In Love” Is The Basic Premise For SIFF’s GayLa

Bullying between two French boys turns into an erotic awakening in a remarkable collaboration between filmmakers André Téchiné (Wild Reeds) and Céline Sciamma (Girlhood), which explodes preconceptions about teenage males.

Gay-La: Being 17 | June 9 | Film: SIFF Cinema Egyptian | Party: Baltic Room

Always a wild, colorful time! Dance the night away from 9 PM to midnight at The Baltic Room featuring catering from Poquito’s. Gay-La has evolved into one of the most treasured events of the Festival, so don’t miss this gem!

When Damien (Kacey Mottet Klein) first meets Thomas (Corentin Fila, in his screen debut), they inexplicably cannot stand each other, and their verbal sparring simmers intermittently with explosive physical altercations—yet at the same time they could just as easily have been great friends. When Thomas’ mother takes ill and is cared for by Damien’s country-doctor mother, Thomas is invited to stay at their house, forcing the boys to live under the same roof. Under this awkward arrangement, Damien and Thomas begin warming to each other and find some common ground. An adopted son of Maghrebi descent, Thomas feels out of place in the nearly all-white world of the Pyrenees, while Damien and his mother struggle with the absence of his jet-pilot father, who spends most of his life away from home. As time passes and tensions build, Damien and Thomas’ relationship vacillates between disdain and mutual attraction, and slowly they realize the root of their hostility is based on deeply hidden feelings that neither fully understands. Directed by prolific filmmaker André Téchiné and co-written by Céline Sciamma, director of several other films dealing with the emotional development of adolescents (Water Lilies, Tomboy, Girlhood), this coming-of-age drama is a refreshingly honest portrait of the ambiguity of teenage love—representing humanity in its most vulnerable and transitory state.

Director Biography
André Téchiné’s prestigious career has spanned over six decades and 20-plus films. His works have won or been nominated for awards in festivals and by critics’ associations across the globe.