Success for Shank

Gritty drama wins gay cinema award.

by Amber Wilkinson

Shank director Simon Pearce
Shank director Simon Pearce

Gritty gay Brit flick Shank has won the Roger Walker-Dack Award for Emerging Talents in Queer Cinema at the Miami Lesbian & Gay Film Festival.

Directed by 21-year-old newcomer Simon Pearce and written and produced by gay creative team Christian Martin and Darren Flaxstone, the film follows the life of teenage gang member, Cal (Wayne Virgo) who hustles for sex and deals drugs to get by.

Hiding his secret sex life from fellow hoodlums Cal rescues a university student mid queer-bashing and falls in love as their lives and worlds collide.

Writer Christian Martin sai: "It was a risk working with a young, inexperienced cast and first-time director but this award, along with the international audience support for the film validates the courage of our conviction to push the gay genre in a new direction.

"May it be the first of many - we're delighted and now hungry to get it out to a British audience."

TLA Releasing will give the film a small theatrical relase in September, before the film is released later this autumn on DVD.

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