| "This
zany homage/spoof has everything from severe camera angles to a soaring
Hermann-esque score, including a few swirly effects. It basically throws
in every Hitchcock pun imaginable while telling a story of a man (Sutherland)
who is helplessly obsessed with the male member during a dinner party
thrown by his Princess Grace-like wife (Jurd). This is deeply silly, full
of corny jokes and very, very rude! And even though it's complete overkill,
it will make you laugh. ***" www.shadowsonthewall.co.uk
A
comedy of PSYCHO proportions!
Written & Directed by Stuart
Vauvert • Produced by Andrew Arbuthnot
Susan would like to cordially invite you to a dinner party to help celebrate
her perfect, married life with her husband, Steve. Unfortunately, it may
not be as perfect as she thinks as Steve realises he likes the 'COCK au
Vin' a little too much. A comedy where not everything is as it seems.
Synopsis
from InsideOut,
Toronto:
"What if Jimmy Stewart peered out
of his rear window and saw two gay men making out? The sight unwinds our
hero's tightly-wound 1950s world."
LONG
SYNOPSIS
Steve has the perfect 50s lifestyle; a great job, a beautiful apartment,
a loving wife and great friends. However, upon returning home from work
one evening, Steve looks through his telescope and accidently witnesses
something which could change his life forever. Unable to forget what he
has seen, Steve discovers the effect this has on his psyche is far more
than he can deal with as he comes to terms with his dark secret.
DIRECTOR'S
STATEMENT
Alfred Hitchcock
knew that only half the thrill of his films was in the suspense. The other
half lay in the innuendo that surrounded the suspense - sex, shame, fetish,
and fantasy. Hitchcock is said to have confided once in a gay friend that,
if he hadn't met his wife when he was still young, that he "could
have been a poof," suggesting (even if he was kidding) that the homoerotic
subtexts in some of his movies weren't just pipe-smoke. Hitchcock knew
that sex, secrets and suspense are all wrapped up together.
With HITCH COCK the concept of equating homosexuality and desire with
murder is political, subversive and comical. Although this is a comedy
on the surface, it is also a psychological drama and has a general comment,
as the main character, Steve, is a witness to a sexual act between two
men it is as if he has witnessed a murder. Although, it is not so much
that he has seen the 'murder' but that the 'murderers' have seen him.
Therefore the story is about whether, and how, the murderers (literally
or metaphorically) catch up with him. If this was a murder, then the pressure
on Steve is two-fold: the gay couple (as murderers) want him to keep their
secret; and the conservative wife and friends (as detectives) pressure
him to reveal it.
HITCH COCK is loosely based on Sir Alfred Hitchcock's 1929 film Blackmail
which was Britain's first talking film. In Blackmail the lead
actress is haunted by images and sounds of a "knife" after she
murders a man in self-defence. HITCH COCK is set in a 1950s situation
comedy style of a seemingly harmonious marriage where life appears as
simple and perfect as the next heterosexual couple. We follow Steve's
hallucinations after he witnesses an intimate situation through his telescope
while his perfect house wife, Susan, is preparing dinner for their guests.
Throughout the entire evening Steve is bombarded with sexually charged
metaphors and images which are a constant reminder that he has perhaps
unleashed inner feelings he may not be ready to deal with.
|
SCREENINGS
Mix
Brazil: Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia
November/December 2005
Copenhagen
Gay & Lesbian Film Festival
October 2005
REEL
Affirmations: Washington Lesbian & Gay Film Festival
October 2005
Lisbon
Lesbian & Gay Film Festival
September 2005
Rhode
Island International Film Festival
August 2005
Philadelphia
Gay & Lesbian Film Festival
July 2005
Frameline29
San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival:
"Return of the Antipodeans" package
June 2005
Out
Takes: Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, New Zealand
May/June 2005
St.
Kilda Film Festival
May 2005
InsideOut Lesbian & Gay Film & Video Festival of Toronto
as part of the Retrofit Programme
May 2005
Turin Gay & Lesbian Film Festival
April 2005
Bendigo
Queer Film Festival
April 2005
BFI
London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival
March 2005
Melbourne
Queer Film Festival
as part of the OZ Shorts Package
March 2005
Kings
Cross Arts Festival, Sydney
March 2005
2005
Mardi Gras Film Festival
Opening Night @ The State Theatre, Sydney
February 2005
STAGE
ADAPTATION
Directed by VINCENT SIMON
As part of the 2005 Short & Sweet Festival
Newtown Theatre at the Edge.
February 2005
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