Films A to Z
Test
- Runtime:
- 89' min.
- Year of Production:
- 2013
- Country:
- USA
- Director:
- Cast:
- Matthew Risch
Scott Marlowe - Production Company:
- Serious Productions
- Berlinale Section:
- Panorama
- Berlinale Category:
- Feature Film
It’s 1985. The location is San Francisco, America’s ‘gay mecca’. Introverted Frankie is an understudy in a prestigious modern dance company. Todd, an established dancer in the troupe, is openly homosexual. When one of the dancers falls ill one day Frankie is asked to stand in and Todd helps him to prepare. Could the illness be the ‘gay plague’ as they are already vilifying Aids? Ignorance, repression, panic, fear, prejudice and open homophobia are rife. Rock Hudson dies from Aids-related illnesses and quarantine is mooted for those who become infected. The friendship between these two very different men deepens in these new circumstances; both are subjected to a number of trials in their professional and private lives, as a result of which they mature and discover the meaning of solidarity. Chris Mason Johnson’s richly atmospheric film is reminiscent of Buddies (1985) and Parting Glances (1986), both courageous milestones in the depiction of Aids on the big screen: ‘It’s this mute purgatory I wanted to capture (…) a moment of heightened awareness and obscured vision that ends, surprisingly, in light.’
BIOGRAFIE Chris Mason Johnson
Born in Los Angeles, he began his career as a dancer in ballet companies including the Frankfurt Ballet under William Forsythe and Mikhail Baryshnikov’s White Oak Dance Project. He’s worked as head of development at Open City Films in New York, as script editor and analyst for Miramax, Dimension, Disney, ABC Family and Fine Line and has also taught screenwriting and film production at Rutgers University, Amherst College and California College of the Arts. He made his feature film debut in 2008 with THE NEW TWENTY. TEST is his second feature as a writer/director.
FILMOGRAFIE Chris Mason Johnson (selection)
2013 Test
2009 The New Twenty
2007 Do You Love Me?
Chris Mason Johnson @IMDb
Trailer
Interview with Chris Mason Johnson