RELEASE DATE
RELEASED: FEBRUARY 2014
PRODUCT DETAILS
- FORMAT: DVD
- SKU: CO2
- UPC: 854555004088
- ISBN: 978-1-939196-08-8
- NUMBER OF DISCS: 1
- COUNTRY: United Kingdom
- RATING: Not rated
- YEAR: 2013
- LENGTH: 89 Minutes
- AUDIO: English
- ASPECT RATIO: 2.35:1
- COLOR: Color
- BONUS MATERIAL: Coming Soon
FESTIVALS
- 2013 Philadelphia QFest
GALLERY
SYNOPSIS
Set in the economically depressed England of today, Cal, the follow-up to the hit 2009 film, Shank, is a startlingly powerful drama of a young gay man searching for love, respect and acceptance. Twenty-year-old Cal (Wayne Virgo, reprising his role) returns home to Britain from France after receiving news that his mother is ill. His finds his home city of Bristol facing hard economic times brought on by the global economic crisis – with poverty and crime on the rise, rioting and looting has become a nightly occurrence. It is not a warm homecoming. Cal finds it difficult to fit in. Unable to get a job, he is confronted by his sick mother who remains stubbornly homophobic and wants nothing to do with her gay son. While navigating his way across this new landscape, he meets Jason, a young student in need of help. However, Cal’s act of kindness brings him into contact with a drug dealing pimp. Soon, he is racing against time to make peace with his mother and get out of town as quickly as possible. An impassioned, visceral drama, Cal is sexy, sweet and touching as it tackles issues faced by gay teens growing up in economically depressed environments.
CREDITS
Director: Christian Martin
Running time: 89 minutes
Country: United Kingdom
Language: English
Screenwriters: Christian Martin
Cast: Wayne Virgo, Tom Payne, Emily Corcoran, Lucy Russel, Bernie Hodges, Daniel Brocklebank
Producers: Christian Martin
Cinematographer: Jack O’Dowd
TRAILER
NEWS & INTERVIEWS
BEHIND THE SCENES INTERVIEWS
SHANK to CAL from xian1969 on Vimeo.
FILM REVIEWS
GAYCELLULOID.COM: CAL REVIEW
As the eagerly anticipated sequel to the blistering attack on the coming out genre that is Shank, this is actually a standalone piece, with few narrative references to prior proceedings. Rather here we find writer and director Christian Martin rejoicing in a film that is as gloriously far removed from your standard boy-meets-boy scenario, as you can get. Indeed such is the realistic backbone of this feature, that not only am I reminded of the social realism style of Ken Loach, but of the highly personal works of Derek Jarman. For just as The Last of England saw Jarman ride a political high, this marks Martin’s uncompromising indictment of turbulent times; from mass youth unemployment to street riots to the growing occupy movement of today, this is social unrest laid bare right in front of your eyes. [Read the entire article here!]
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Christian Martin has worked professionally in the film industry for over 20 years during which time he has developed studio projects and produced films in the UK, South Africa and the USA. Entering the business via the traditional route as a runner Christian has worked across a diverse range of disciplines from development to producing to distribution and latterly writing and directing. He was part of the production team behind the film adaptation of Martin Sherman’s Bent directed by Sean Mathias and starring Clive Owen, Mick Jagger, Ian McKellen and Lothaire Bluteau which enjoyed critical success and premiered in Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival. He produced the feature film Fever written and directed by Alex Winter and starring Henry Thomas, Teri Hatcher, Bill Duke and David O’Hara which also premiered at the Cannes film festival in the Director’s Fortnight. As a distributor he was instrumental as director of finance and acquisitions for Peccadillo Pictures in developing a business plan that has seen the company become one of the largest and most successful independent distributors of specialized, arthouse and LGBT films in the UK. After leaving Peccadillo he returned to film production setting up Bonne Idée Productions. In between giving guest lectures to undergraduates in film and media and mentoring young filmmakers Christian’s second passion is politics and he is an elected city councilman in Bristol. Christian is best known to gay cinema fans as the writer/director behind the hit films Shank, Release and Buffering.