DENMARK
2024 – DCP – colore – 86’

Direction: Søren Green

Screenplay: Tomas Lagermand Lundme, Søren Green

Cinematography: Stephanie Stål Axelgård

Editing: Elin Pröjts

Set design: Jeanett Brahe
originale Original music: Buster Jensen, Jonas Holst Schmidt

Cast: Noa Risbro (Tobias), Jens Jørn Spottag (nonno grandfather), Alexander Mayah Larsen (Aron), Bodil Jørgensen (nonna grandmother), Iben Dorner (madre mother), Jonathan Bergholdt (Jonas), Sarah Boberg, Jeanett Albeck, Jimmy Jørgensen, Paw Henriksen (padre father), Lea Baastrup Rønne (Selma), Silja Ellemann Kiehne (Freja), Christopher Læssø (Elias), Anders Cornelius Zoffmann (Mikael), Simon Dam, Rasmus Grøn Jakobsen (compagno della madre mother’s lover)

Producers: Pelle Folmer, Morten Holst, Per Holst

Production: Asta Film Aps

World Sales: Level K

Synopsis

Sixteen-year-old Tobias reluctantly spends his summer with his grandparents in the countryside, abandoned once again by his elusive mother. His grandfather takes care of his dementia-sick wife while working fulltime as a glazier. Tobias encounters two young men, Jonas, a male prostitute, and Aron, a local 25-year-old painter. Instantly drawn to each other, Tobias and Aron navigate the complexities of their budding relationship. But Tobias, starved for love and affection, struggles to let down his guard, pushing Aron away whenever emotions run too deep. When tragedy strikes, Tobias finds himself sinking back into old habits of self-loathing and self-harm, seeking solace in the pain he inflicts upon himself. As dark thoughts threaten to unravel his sanity and alienate those closest to him, Tobias descends further into darkness, convinced he deserves every ounce of suffering.

The director: Søren Green

He is a self-taught film director and writer, but he holds a master’s degree in film studies from University of Copenhagen. In 2018 Green directed the short film October Boy and the web series Thomas14 funded by the Danish Film Institute and TV 2 Denmark. Previously Green has directed the award-winning short films An Evening and An Afternoon, screened at more than 100 festivals around the world and distributed in 30+ countries. In 2020 he completed the trilogy with A Night. He wrote all three films with Tomas Lagermand Lundme. In 2013 Green directed, filmed, and co-produced the documentary The Hidden Children, about Jewish children left in Denmark, while their parents fled to safety in Sweden during WWII.

Director’s statement

“Thematically, B.O.Y. is a further development of the stories my co-writer Tomas Lagermand Lundme and I have previously told in shorter formats. Stories about introverted boys with inner demons they feel they are alone with. The male ideal is to be strong and stable, but a lot of young men and boys have a hard time talking about their innermost feelings. It’s not something most men do in our society. Not out of ill will, I think, but out of habit. I had the same problems putting my feelings into words as I grew up in rural Denmark and it is still something I must work on as an adult. B.O.Y. is a story about having a long series of visible and invisible scars from an upbringing where you have felt neglected and overlooked, but at the same time encounter love for the first time without knowing how to deal with it. B.O.Y. is a portrait of a boy who wants to love and let himself be loved but doesn’t feel he deserves it.”

Filmography

2013 The Hidden Children (doc.)
2014 An Afternoon (short)
2016 An Evening (short)
2018 Thomas14 (web series)
2018 October Boy (short)
2020 A Night (short)
2024 Glasskår (B.O.Y. – Bruises of Yesterday)

Festival

2024 Fusion IFF, Norway – Features
2024 Helsinki IFF Love & Anarchy – LGBTQ+

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