Buy Fest Selects: Best Gay Shorts on DVD

Fest Selects: Best Gay Shorts

DVD

More Info

In stock and ready to ship

$21.99 (12% off)
List Price: ~~$24.99~~

When new special editions or price reductions are announced.

Synopsis

Fest Selects contains a cross-section of some of the best recent gay shorts culled from top film festivals - including Sundance, Outfest, Frameline, Philadelphia QFest and more.

After
(USA, 2009, 13 min)
Directed by: Mark Pariselli
Three teenage boys idolize and long for the same older hunk. Inspired by beloved gay author Dennis Cooper's poem "After School, Street Football, Eighth Grade."

Bedfellows
(USA, 2010, 15 min)
Directed by: Pierre Stefanos
Bobby meets Jonathan at the bar where he got his heart broken, will his one-night stand end up a nightmare or a fairy tale?
Winner of the Audience Award for Best Short Film at Philadelphia QFest

Curious Thing
(USA, 2009, 9 min)
Directed by: Alain Hain
Interviews with several New York gay men provide the backdrop as two men - one gay, the other straight - explore their relationships’ past, present and future.

Gayby
(USA, 2010, 12 min)
Directed by: Jonathan Lisecki
College friends Matt (gay) and Jenn (straight) decide to have a baby the old fashion way.

GaySharkTank.com
(USA, 2010, 15 min)
Directed by: Guy Shalem
Twenty-five strangers seek love, lust, and the other things you might find on a random gay video chat.

My Name is Love
(USA, 2008, 21 min)
Directed by: David Färdmar
Love and Sebastian share a secret. After a chance meeting in the street, their innocent flirt soon turns into a dangerous liaison.
Winner of the Jury Award for Best Short Film Philadelphia QFest and Best Short Film/Audience Award at the Nation Film Festival

Mouse's Birthday
(USA, 2010, 4 min)
Directed by: Barry Morse
A visual poem with abstract and symbolic imagery of fanstasy, whimsy and terror about a mouse, a cockroach and a "gay" man.

Steam
(USA, 2010, 16 min)
Directed by: Eldar Rapaport
After a brief encounter, two strangers find themselves stuck in a steam room and only their pasts to discover.
Winner of the Iris Prize for Best Short Film and the Best Short Film Award at FilmOut San Diego

3 Reasons To buy this film

You're getting eight stellar short films for the price of one.
There is something in this collection for every taste - comedy, romance, drama, sexuality, and even some supernatural suspense.
These films have played at countless film festivals and garnered both award and great acclaim from critics, juries and audiences. All of the filmmakers are worth keeping an eye on!

Review

It's definitely not the most thematically concise collection of gay shorts out there, but we can guarantee that ALL of the films on Fest Selects are worth watching. Culled from film festivals around the globe, this compilation showcases some of the best work from gay filmmakers in 2009 and 2010.

In After, you get to travel inside the minds of three adorably nerdy young men as they fantasize about a scorching hot straight football player. This colorful and darkly comic adaptation of Dennis Cooper’s poem “After School, Street Football, Eighth Grade,” offers some really hot fantasy sequences – involving foot fetishism and some “doctor play” – and a wallop of an ending that changes the tone dramatically.

Winner of the Audience Award for Best Short Film at Philadelphia QFest 2010, Pierre Stefanos’ Bedfellows is a truly heartwarming fable. How do you know if a one night stand with a stranger will amount to anything more than sex? You don’t. But, you can always dream that it will. After falling asleep next to an attractive stranger from the bar, Bobby dreams of their potential long and happy life together. Told in the style of a fairy tale, this sweet-natured short takes us through a hypothetical thirty-year romance that may never exist in the real world. Both of the leads are adorable and the awkward tension that they share in early scenes is palpable.

He’s cute, he’s sweet, he knows you better than anyone else… but, sweetie, he’s straight. Curious Thing combines several gay men’s voices as they discuss having had crushes on their best straight buddies. It’s a touching little piece that will speak to those who have been in the same boat. It also breaks down some stereotypes about homophobia.

What do you get when a thirty-something gay guy and his best female friend decide to have a baby together the old-fashioned way? One of the most hilariously awkward sex scenes we’ve EVER SEEN! Award-winning director Jonathan Lisecki’s newest short Gayby is poignant, hysterically funny, and in this reviewer’s opinion, one of 2010’s best short films.

Boasting an absolutely amazing cast, GaySharkTank.com is a hilarious, fast-paced account of 25 characters searching for love on a gay Chatroulette.com-styled website. Among the participants are Clinton Leupp (aka: Miss Coco Peru), Dan Bucatinsky, Jack Plotnick, Jai Rodriguez, Willam Belli and many more.

Of all the shorts on this compilation, My Name is Love might be the most difficult to watch. No matter how tough it might be to sit through, however, it’s hard to deny that this is an important piece of work. Love and Sebastian share the same secret. However, they go about expressing it in very different ways. Love is looking to let go of his inhibitions. Sebastian is looking for something a little more sinister. After the two meet, by chance, on a hot summer night, an exciting flirtation turns into a dangerous encounter in this shocking Swedish short from director David Fardmar.

Easily the most bizarre addition to this collection, Mouse’s Birthday is a experimantal, camp-heavy music video which aims to exaime lust, vanity, sexuality and homophobia using a mouse, a cockroach and a "gay" fellow.

Last up is the most controversial film of the pack. Though it’s has won numerous awards - Steam has left many audiences polarized. In the beginning, it’s hotter than hell! Two hot guys, alone in a steam room, take notice of one another and share a sexy, sweaty encounter. Soon after, however, they discover that this steam room has no exit. It’s then left up to the characters and the audience to discover why they are there and what their connection might be. It’s possible that some viewers may take offense at the conclusion that the film seems to draw. There is no doubt, however, that it is directed with great skill – and it’s provocative nature scores extra points in our book. If you keep an open mind, you’re likely to enjoy it.

-- Robert O'Neill

Product Format Information

DVD : $21.99

Availability: In stock and ready to ship
Region Code: 1
UPC: 720229914680

Studio : First Run Features

Languages: English (Primary) , Swedish , English Subtitles
Aspect Ratio: Widescreen

Customer Reviews

Best Gay Short for sure!

FilmLover wrote on 05/04/2011:

Having been to a few of the top film fests, I have seen all 8 of these films and I can't believe this many great shorts are one DVD! It's an almost schizophrenic collection of gay shorts, but there is something for everyone and you'll likely fall in love with more than a few of these films (and ACTORS!):

'After' take a while to get going but the ending is devastating and yet darkly beautiful. A truly memorable silent short, especially for fans of the, ahem, younger guys.

'Bedfellows' is easily the most romantic of the group and probably the most relatable, mixing the light and dark of a random hookup at a bar with a gorgeous dream sequence as narrated by a British author. Definitely the film for the broken-hearted but hopeful crowd, and the final minute of it is beyond brilliant.

'Curious Thing' focuses on that moment all gay men have with straight guys - how far do you take your crush, or maybe how far CAN you take it? Moves with a nimble editing style and propulsive soundtrack while using archival interviews with gay men about their own stories about going 'there.'

The award for Best Comedy will definitely be fought to the death by 'Gayby' and 'GaySharkTank.' While 'SharkTank' is a fall-on-the-floor hilarious spoof and has cameo after hysterical cameo, 'Gayby' takes the smart comedy approach, but it's still laugh-out-loud funny and features the HOTTEST actor in the collection. If only his sex scene wasn't with a girl! Let the debate begin!

'Mouse's Birthday' has its own share of hot guys, but it's more like an experimental and cautionary music video. That and 'After' will probably be the ones which will leave some viewers scratching their heads a bit, but lovers of Furries will be pressing the Pause button on the DVD remote endlessly when 'Birthday' is on screen!

The two most dramatic films are surely "My Name Is Love" and "Steam." If you like your films upbeat, these won't be for you, but both are quite sexy and rather thought-provoking pieces, true film festival fare, so the folks looking for queer films that are political and have something to say (and feature hot Scandinavian guys) will gravitate to these two.

Personally to say that I love the vast majority of these films and that I'm looking forward to watching them again really says that whoever put this DVD together knew what they were doing. Can't wait to revisit these films!

First Run Features Brings Us Gay Shorts

Amos Lassen wrote on 02/19/2011:

“Fest Selects: Best Gay Shorts, Vol. 1”
First Run Features Brings Us Gay Shorts
Amos Lassen
Many of us who are not able to make it to film festivals often miss out on some of the new talent especially because the films that they make as shorts. Now First Run Features brings us a collection of shorts that have been making the rounds of the festivals.
“After” which clocks in at 13 minutes is about three teenagers who both love the same high school jock from afar. Then they witness his death.
“Bedfellows” tells us of Bobby and Jonathan who met at a bar and Bobby nurses a broken heart and he must decide if his adventure with Jonathan was more than just a one-night stand.
Interviews with some New York gay men is the subject of “Curious Thing” as two of the men, one, Jared, closeted and gay and one straight, Sam, look at their relationships and what they can expect. A friendship is formed and it tests what the two men know about love and things take a strange turn.

“Gayby” is one of the very popular shorts on the circuit and it is about gay Matt and straight Jenn who decide to have a baby the way is traditionally done. This is a very funny film and puts friends in a very strange relationship.
“Gaysharktank” looks at twenty-five strangers, all of whom are looking for love in a gay video chat room. Chatroulette.com allows people to become virtual lovers as they engage in meaningless gay chat.
“My Name is Love” from Sweden is about two men whose chance meeting leads to danger. Love and Sebastian share a common secret but their meeting has dangerous repercussions and male rape is one of them.
Ever wonder if a mouse, a gay man and a cockroach have anything in common? You may find out in “Mouse’s Birthday”. This is a four-part story about a gay man who represents gluttony, lust, vanity and homophobia and in essence, this short looks at drag.
Finally, “Steam” takes place in a steam bath where two strangers discover their pasts. The two men have oral sex and when one gets up to leave he cannot find the door and since neither guy can figure out what has happened each accuses the other.