Film festival that banned short film for showing a gay kiss reverses its decision
Saul Singleton's "Since the First Day We Met" was initially rejected from a student film festival for ending on a same-sex kiss
Saul Singleton’s Since the First Day We Met is a film about a deaf boy’s crush on a fellow student. In the end, the two boys share a quick kiss between them before the credits roll. Harmless right?
Apparently not. That kiss was enough to get the movie rejected from the Golden Lion Awards, a high school film festival.
Singleton, currently a senior at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, Maryland, was told that because of the Golden Lion Film Festival’s “PG-comparable rating system,” they were “unable to accept any films with clearly illustrated LGBQT+ themes.”
“I emailed them back and I was like, this isn’t appropriate, this is meant to be inclusive,” he says.
Singleton, who is gay, calls the justification for rejecting the film “shocking,” adding, “All they did was kiss once. If a straight couple did it, it would be fine,” he says.
When nobody from the festival responded to Singleton’s email, he took to Twitter.
“I think if I wasn’t vocal about it this would have continued,” he says. “We’re the generation that has to speak out about the issues that concern us, because if we don’t speak out then it will continue.”
Singleton posted a screenshot of his email to publicize the banning of his film, tagging the Golden Lion Film Festival in the process. It instantly gained traction.
hi Tess i entered @GoldenLionFest and they rejected my film because of LBGT themes??? rt this to let them know that this isn’t ok??? what ?? I also had permission to use the song??? pic.twitter.com/49IwbFsUB6
— saul singleton (@saulsingleton) March 13, 2018
“The support that I’ve been getting from the members of not only my community at home with my film but through the LGBTQ community that I didn’t even know, so many people were speaking out that this isn’t right,” Singleton says.
Originally, the Golden Lion Awards stuck to their guns and continued to bar Singleton’s film. However, five days after his initial tweet, they revoked that decision and decided to allow his film and two others with LGBTQ themes into the festival, calling their initial response “insensitive and not well articulated.”
While Singleton’s film was accepted, it was only brought to the judging phase. Though happy that his film was allowed entry, he is worried that the awards only accepted it due to bad publicity, and still will not move it forward in the process due to the kiss.
“I appreciate that they tried to show [acceptance] by reversing the decision, but I still think there’s a lot of steps to go towards being more progressive,” Singleton says, adding, “If it gets rejected from the showing at the festival, the only thing that goes through my mind is ‘Yeah, they still aren’t being the LGBTQ-inclusive that they said they would be.'”
Another question Singleton has raised is how his friend’s film, which featured smoking and would normally garner a PG-13 rating, was originally not allowed into the festival but was overturned before Singleton’s film was rejected.
“That wasn’t PG, but they reversed his decision before they reversed mine,” Singelton says. “It was just confusing to me because that is so much worse than my film.”
Regardless of whether his film moves forward, Singleton hopes that Since the First Day We Met will be a “learning experience” for the film festival.
“I think…they realize what they said wasn’t okay,” he says. “They’re going to work harder to really stick to the fact that they want to be more LGBTQ inclusive.”
Singleton also hopes his example becomes a lesson in pushing for what’s right, especially for young people his age.
“I hope this an example that just shows how we’re willing to speak out and how we’re willing to address these issues,” he says. “Take a stand, because other people will support you.”
Since the First Day We Met is available on Singleton’s YouTube channel, and was the product of blending his “cultural identities” of having deaf parents with his identity as a gay man. Check it out below:
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