“Skin to Skin” By Luna

In bedrooms and on couches. Late at night and in the early hours of the morning. Strangers, acquaintances and casual flings open up to each other - revealing some of the most private, occasionally uplifting, sometimes shameful parts of themselves in the fleeting intimacy after a sexual encounter.

Skin to Skin is an experimental documentary exploring the beautifully messy relationship between intimacy and LGBTQ+ hook-up culture. Directed by award-winning filmmaking duo Luna, the film is a dreamy, kaleidoscopic journey into the real lives and stories of Ireland’s vibrant LGBTQ+ community.

The short film IN MEDIAS RUSH is an experimental cinematic journey into the depths of a manic mind. A poetic retro-sci-fi narrative unfolded in a string of unsettling tableaus that encapsulates the male protagonist’s ambiguous feelings about his birthday. While balancing between realities in his silent struggle with severe mental illness, we plunge into the film at a neatly orchestrated birthday party. The protagonist is accompanied by his girlfriend, and they are drinking cocoa on the couch in their mutual home. The setting breathes pure perfection, but through the voice over we sense that another reality is soon to be revealed. With one foot on the accelerator, he is heading towards the edge. The thematic focal point of IN MEDIAS RUSH is mental health problems among young adults, and the social/personal consequences related to the existing taboo on the subject. The film wishes to formulate an honest cinematic space in which words, sound, and image artistically interprets and articulates some of the perspectives related to especially bipolar, anxiety, and psychotic disorders. IN MEDIAS RUSH was nominated in the category 'Best Danish Short Film' at Copenhagen Short Film Festival in 2020. Original title: IN MEDIAS RÆS Directed by: Esben Persson -------------------- DK: IN MEDIAS RÆS IN MEDIAS RÆS er en filmisk rejse ind i dybderne af et manisk sind. En ung mand fejrer sin fødselsdag, mens hans tanker tordner afsted. Med en uvillig fod på speederen har han kurs mod kanten. FR: IN MEDIA RES IN MEDIA RES est un voyage dans les profondeurs d’un esprit maniaque. Un jeune homme fête son anniversaire tandis que ses pensées se multiplient. Malgré lui, il se dirige vers un point de non-retour. -------------------- Cast: Peter Alexander Bach & Amanda Overby Drew Director // Script writer // Set designer // Costume designer // Editor // Speaker: Esben Persson Photographer // Editor: Lasse Mølsted Producer: Latifa Lykke Ben Mabrouk Assistant producer: Cecilie Creutsberg Music composer: Martin Bejder Sound designer: Mads Hye Chief Lighting Technician: Rasmus Bruun Liboriussen VFX: Jonas Fonnesbæk Lodahl Colorist: Kristopher Paterson Graphic designer: Jakob Toft Kristensen -------------------- Shot on RED Monstro 8K with Lomo Squarefront Anamorphics.

Adopting a formally innovative doc/fiction hybrid approach to its subject matter, Skin to Skin captures the emotionally complex nuances and contradictions of hook-up culture. These are real stories, as remembered and re-created by our interview subject, which have been interpreted in a visually inventive way. The stories it recounts are raw, funny, insightful, heartbreaking, uplifting, sexy - often all at the same time.

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By exploring these stories in all their richness, authenticity and raw emotion, we wanted to capture something that we feel often gets overlooked about LGBT hook-up culture. We wanted to show how hook-up culture allows alienated people to connect emotionally with others. How it allows individuals to experience a sense of intimacy and community. Not only that, however, but also how this world allows individuals to acknowledge aspects of themselves they might usually keep hidden.

In the media and in popular culture, LGBT hook-up culture is often presented as one-dimensional. LGBT hook-up culture is often depicted as hedonistic, impersonal, and - in some instances - risky, sordid or dysfunctional. As a member of the LGBT community myself, I wanted to challenge these lazy stereotypes and lazy cultural narratives.

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The real encounters re-created in the film touch on how hook-up culture creates a sense of community and kinship among people. The film also shows how hook-up culture is a way for many people to alleviate their loneliness, trauma and shame.

This, we feel strongly, is a valuable perspective to share.

Thank you!

Luna - Director duo

Credits

Directed by: Luna
Producer: Seamus Waters
DoP: Aidan Gault
Editor: Joseph Taylor
Sound Design: Folding Waves
Composer: Folding Waves
Colourist: Leandro Arouca / Element

Hey filmmakers! Have a project of your own you’d like us to check out?