(Glasgow, Scotland) – November 21, 2022. The autobiographical short film “TOO ROUGH” written and directed by 24-year-old Sean Lìonadh has won the Scottish BAFTA Award for Best Live Action Short Film and received a nomination for the British Independent Film Awards (BIFA).
The 16-minute LGBTQ+ short also won two top awards at the Oscar®-qualifying festivals: the Best Queer Short Film Award at the Provincetown International Film Festival and the Best Live Action Short Award et Interfilm Berlin. In addition, TOO ROUGH has been acquired by Canal+ after garnering a multitude of accolades in the festival circuit.
Lìonadh wrote TOO ROUGH’s story based on his own experience growing up in a dysfunctional working-class family in Glasgow. He is previously known for his controversial visual poem “TIME FOR LOVE” which reached millions of people online, speaking to the experiences of the global LGBTQ+ community, while sparking a campaign by the Catholic church against the film.
TOO ROUGH tells the story of Nick, a young man from an impoverished family who are unaware that he is gay. After a night of partying, Nick is trapped in his cramped bedroom where he must hide his lover Charlie from his dysfunctional family.
“I’m amazed that a film so Scottish can enter the Oscars® race. Growing up in Glasgow, nothing felt cinematic about my childhood in Scotland. To me, cinema was Hollywood, beauty and magic. But in making this film, I realized Scotland could be cinematic,” says director Sean Lìonadh.
This gritty and tense, yet tender look at homosexuality takes an unexpected twist when the audience members think they’re watching an “in-the-closet” story, but then realize that they are looking at a story about a young man trying to hide his dysfunctional family from his secret lover, not the other way around.
“Sean succeeded in transforming the pain of his past into an impactful short film, potentially one of the most celebrated Scottish short films ever. This is the most rewarding achievement for an artist, and hopefully, the audience will not just be peeking into Sean’s past, but they will also be touched and inspired,” says producer Alfredo Covelli.
TOO ROUGH is written and directed by Sean Lìonadh and stars Ruaridh Mollica (Nick) and Joshua Griffin (Charlie). The timely story brings a breath of fresh air to the current conversations around sexuality, homophobia, mental health, psychological abuse, and family life in working-class Glasgow. The film is produced by Ross McKenzie, founder of Devil May Care Entertainment in Edinburgh, and Scheme Pictures’ CEO Alfredo Covelli from Italy.
“Homophobia is a real issue in our society, and I believe that filmmakers and artists contribute to making that change. As a producer, I’m here to support their stories so homophobia can be a thing of the past,” concludes producer Ross McKenzie.
To know more about TOO ROUGH, please visit the following links:
Instagram: www.instagram.com/SchemePictures
Website: www.seanlionadh.com/film/TooRough
IMDb: www.imdb.com/title/tt13940764/
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