WE NEED DIVERSITY!

Welcome to We Hear YA! 

Connecting YA Writers with their Teen Audience.

Writers of YA – Go ahead and clear out 83 minutes of your day, because SEASHORE is a MUST SEE, LGBT film about teens growing up and sexuality. 

Riveting, raw, and very realistic, this film gives viewers an intimate look into the lives of two Brazilian teen boys during their most vulnerable moments. 

RENT THIS DVD HERE: WolfeOnDemand.com.  

Written and directed by Filipe Matzembacher and Marcio Reolon

Starring: Mateus Almad and Maurício José Barcellos

“It’s is a film about growing up, and sexuality - one of the challenges everyone has to deal with (Especially if you are LGBT). And Brazil is a country that faces a complicated situation on this at moment, where young LGBT people have their self-steam constantly destroyed by politicians in the media, and by a growing religious fundamentalist part of the society.”

Want to learn more? Of course you do! 

Here is my Q & A with writers / directors Filipe Matzembacher and Marcio Reolon: 

Q: What did you learn about the topic of sexuality and teens that you weren't aware of before? 

Probably the main thing we realized during the process (and we brought it into the film) is that there is a less and less for labels among teenagers. Of course, if you want to define yourself somehow, you have all the right to do it. But we think that this is becoming less of an issue. And one of our main characters is not defined by the story as gay, straight, bi, whatever. He only has experiences, and that is what we show. Perhaps in the future he will create a stronger identification, but for now that is all that matters. 

Q: Did you have any fears about not portraying these teens in the right way? And how did you ensure that the choices you made were honest?  

We were pretty close to the age of the characters. The main reason why we wanted to do this film while we were still young is that we didn't want to have a nostalgic or idealized portrait of youth. It is our vision of youth, and many things are based on our own teenage-hood. So far, we have received very kind feedback  from our young audiences, so we believe they can connect to it. 

Q: Do you have any research methods or sites or outlets that you used in writing this film, that other writers might find useful? 

The film is based on our individual memories of when we were 18 years-old. So the first thing was to share these memories and see which ones we wanted to use and how to confront them. 

Also, both of us love photography, so we looked a lot into tumblrs, flickrs and other social networks. Every time we found a photo related to youth that we liked, we would put it aside. After this research, many photos gave us ideas for characters development, scenes, situations and locations.  




Q: In writing about friendship and sexuality, where there any cliches you found yourself wanting to avoid and if so why?  

Yeah, coming out is hard most of the times, and therefore it is natural the most of its representations will be on a harsh portray, but we truly wanted to send an encouraging message to LGBT youth. And also to their friends, for them to know that you don't have to be an asshole if your friend comes out. When that happens, you actually have the opportunity to do something beautiful by supporting him or her, and then you grow into a much better human being. We also didn't want to define Martin's sexuality. Some people ask us if, in the end, he is gay or not. And that doesn't really matter to us. The interesting thing about him is that, after he confronts his father and decides to choose his own path, he embraces an attraction or perhaps love that he has for his friend. And we don't know how it is going to be from now on, but Martin feels enough courage to face the cold and raging waters of life, knowing that he and Tomaz will be there for each other as friends. 

The whole film is guided a lot more by an inner journey of the characters then by external facts or social labels. And that was fundamental for us from the very start of the conception of the film.  

**WATCH THE TRAILER***

AGAIN! TO RENT THIS DVD - You can find it via Wolfe Video and many major retailers, and across all digital platforms including iTunes, and Vimeo On Demand. 

About the Writer / Director Team: Filipe Matzembacher and Marcio Reolon are writers and directors that perform an autoral search focused on pieces that talk about conflicts inherently linked with youth and sexuality. The region where they live in the extreme south of Brazil is far from the typical image of the country, with cold weather and more reserved people, and it also reflects a lot in their work. Their short films have traveled over 200 film festivals, including Festival de Cine en Guadalajara, Frameline - San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival, UppsalaShort Film Festival, Festival de Cinema Luso Brasileiro de Santa Maria da Feira, Inside Out – Toronto LGBT IFF,Short Shorts IFF, Mecal IFF, among others around the world.