May 17th is the International Day Against Homophobia & Transphobia (IDAHO). In the last few years reports of teenage suicide due to gay bullying have increased drastically. Projects like the „It Gets Better Project“ and the “Out4Marriage” Project want to raise awareness for this problem and provide a perspective of hope.
Inspired by those projects, the short film HOMOPHOBIA, available now for free on youtube.projecthomophobia.com, wants to contribute to raising awareness and create empathy for the topic since gay bullying and homophobia are still very present in today's society.
“Laws can prevent people from doing crimes, but they don't change people's thinking. Art can touch people on an emotional level and therefore really make an impact”, says Gregor Schmidinger, the director of HOMOPHOBIA.
“People often connect homophobia with hate”, he says, “but it's really about fear (phobia). It's the fear of the unknown and sometimes of the unknown within ourselves. With HOMOPHOBIA I want to portray this conflict and provide people with new perspectives on an empathetic level.” Sharing the movie on Facebook and Twitter helps to spread the word and beat homophobia.
The world premier of HOMOPHOBIA was in Vienna, on May 11th. 600 people consisting of politicians, filmmakers, activists as well as the cast and crew celebrated the release of HOMOPHOBIA. City Council Sandra Frauenberger praised the movie and thanked the team for their “commitment and time” they invested in the movie.
The story of HOMOPHOBIA is set in the environment of the Austrian Military Forces. Michael, a young soldier, experiences homosexual feelings for Raphael, one of his comrades. During their last night at the Austrian-Hungarian Border, the suppressed conflict bubbles to the surface.
The movie was partly funded through crowd funding. More than 10.000$ were donated to execute the movie. The crowd funders were also able to take part in the project. In a hidden Facebook group, the team shared different production steps with the funders. The script, the casting, the selection of the poster motive – everything was laid open for discussions and ideas within the group.
The cast was found through an online casting. More than 30 people sent in their video and a small selection was invited to a personal casting in Vienna. “With Michael Glantschnig [Michael], Josef Mohamed [Raphael] and Günther Sturmlechner [Jürgen] we've found the perfect cast. They have a great group dynamic, which is really important for the dynamic of the characters within the movie.”
HOMOPHOBIA is available online on youtube.projecthomophobia.com // vimeo.projecthomophobia.com and will be submitted to international film festivals within the next year.
For further information and all the latest news visit www.projecthomophobia.com [iframe src=”http://player.vimeo.com/video/41979122?color=ffffff” width=”550″ height=”309″ frameborder=”0″ webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen]
HOMOPHOBIA (Short Film) from Gregor Schmidinger on Vimeo.
www.projecthomophobia.com
An adolescent boy, who serves the Austrian Military Forces, experiences homosexual feelings towards one of his comrades. It's their last night at the Austrian-Hungarian border, socially isolated and armed with loaded weapons.
::: CAST :::
Michael Glantschnig
Josef Mohamed
Günther Sturmlechner
Harald Bodingbauer
::: CREW :::
PRODUCERS
Gregor Schmidinger
Julian Wiehl
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS
Alois Ecker
Heldentaten Werbeagentur
provo Marketing
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Nino Leitner, AAC
WRITTEN, DIRECTED AND EDITED BY
Gregor Schmidinger
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
Katharina Dietl
UNIT PRODUCTION MANAGER
Arne Nostitz-Rieneck
LINE PRODUCER
Andreas Kepplinger
PRODUCTION ASSISTANTS
Sonja Chan
Sebastian Kitzmüller
1ST ASSISTANT CAMERA
Alois Kozar Jr.
GAFFER
Alex Püringer
ELECTRICIANS
Markus Harthum
Alex Haspel
Maria Otter
Michael Prandstaetter
SOUND MIXER AND SOUND DESIGNER
Jakob Wolf
BOOM OPERATOR
HHerbert Verdino
ART DIRECTOR
Christoph Ablinger
MAKE-UP ARTIST
Uschi Braun
COLORIST
Matthias Tomasi
PRESS AND SOCIAL MEDIA
Manuel Dünfründt
Mike Buonaiuto
ACCOUNTANT
Jürgen Fellhofer
GRAPHIC DESIGNER
Lukas Fliszar
STILL PHOTOGRAPHERS
Gerhard Gruber
Andreas Kepplinger
ARTISTIC ADVISORS
Marianne Jungmaier
David Winterberg
TRANSLATOR
Steve Wilder
CATERER
Hedwig Gußner
Isabel Bräuer
Anita Reisinger
Comments