Film team tackling gay taboo
GREAT RESPONSE ... from left, Jamie Korn, Gerry Maguire and Chris Bailey are making a film about homophobia in football.
A SOUTH Tyneside film-maker is hoping to dispel one of the beautiful game’s final taboos.
Short film Tackle aims to address the issue of being gay in the macho world of football.
Writer Jamie Korn, of East Boldon, has teamed up with director Chris Bailey, of Sunderland and Newcastle producer Gerry Maguire to make the film, which they hope will go some way towards making the footballing world more accepting of gay players.
Gerry said: “Although racism in football is widely discussed, people shy away from the issue of homophobia in football.
“There is still a social stigma around being gay, in a male contact sport.”
The film, which the three hope will be picked up by festivals, will be shot over the course of a week and the final product will run for up to 15 minutes.
Gerry said: “The film is about a 16 to 18-year-old named Daniel, who plays in a Sunday league football team.
He is outed as gay, and the film is about the effect this has on his social situation and his career. “We wanted to make a film about homophobia in football because it’s topical at the moment, and we want to tackle that taboo.”
The film will be shot around Wearside on a micro-budget, but the film-makers, working under the umbrella of Tall Man Short Man Films, hope it will have a big impact.
Gerry said: “A short film like this has obvious aesthetic qualities and is issue-driven, and for this reason it’s a good option for film festivals.
“We also think it would have great potential for a charity campaign like Kick It Out, which tackles discrimination in football.”
The film-makers have worked with a number of drama schools across the North East and are in the process of casting the characters.
“Considering the subject matter, we’ve had an amazing response,” Gerry explained. “Lots of people who we didn’t think would be interested in the film have auditioned. It shows that it’s an issue people want to talk about.”
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Comments
There are 3 comments to this article
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neofab
Saturday, February 18, 2012 at 01:48 PMEveryday is a celebration of heterosexuality you idiots. In film, media, music, literature, down the pub, in the park and especially in bloody football. Heterosexuality as normative has been constantly "rammed down my throat" since birth. It's about time we had some balance. Grow up, get an education and appreciate life from a different perspective you dinosaurs. By the way, the producers would do well to contact The Justin Campaign or check out their Football v Homophobia initiative to get the film some publicity! @justincampaign
geordie999
Wednesday, February 15, 2012 at 08:50 PMwell said , Hebburnman
Hebburnman
Tuesday, February 14, 2012 at 10:15 AMProbably spart a few comments and I'm NOT anti gay or anything but WHY are people forever being bombarded with literatureFilms etc trying to get them to accept being gay as being normal?? We don't have this kind of of campaign showing happy married couples with a couple of kids and how that is normal being rammed down peoples throats??
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