TECHNICAL
DIFFICULTIES
OF INTIMACY (2015)
Screenwriter, Director,
Co-Editor: Joel Moffett
Short film (19 minutes)
Producers: Grace Lim, Ajax Maharlika, Paisley Mares, Samantha Meno, Reynolds Lee Barney
Synopsis: Starring world-renowned queer icon Buck Angel, Technical Difficulties of Intimacy is about a man and a woman, who try to salvage their romantic relationship by exploring new sexual horizons.
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TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES OF INTIMACY has been licensed by OUTtv, CVS and HERE TV for broadcast throughout Europe
and North America.
Awards:
Best Short - URSULA Gender Bender Award
-Lesbisch Schwule Filmtage Hamburg International Queer Film Festival (Germany)
Best Short
-CINHOMO International
LGBT Film Festival (Spain)
Best Narrative Short
-Big Muddy Film Festival (USA)
Best Short
-Vues D’en face: Festival International du film Gay et Lesbien de Grenoble (France)
Best Short
-Feminist and Queer International Film Festival (Romania)
The Golden Pelican
for Best Dramatic Short
-Mykonos Biennale (Greece)
The Frank Kameny Memorial Award:
Best Comedy Short Film
-San Antonio QFest (USA)
The Christine Jorgensen Memorial
Award for Best Transgender Performance:
Mariana Marroquin
-San Antonio QFest (USA)
Silver Remi Award
-World Fest Houston (USA)
Best Production Design Winner
(Meg Hanna)
Best Costume Design Nomination (Whitney Oppenheimer)
-Southampton International
Film Festival (UK)
Award of Merit
-Accolade Global Film Competition (USA)
Honorable Mention
-ColorTape International Film Festival (Australia)
Award of Merit
-Best Shorts Competition (USA)
Finalist
-Fade In Awards (USA)
Award of Merit
-IndieFEST Film Awards (USA)
Fourth Place - Romantic Drama
-The 20th Anniversary Indie Gathering International Film Festival (USA)
Best Production Design Winner
(Meg Hanna)
Best Screenplay Nomination
(Joel Moffett)
Best Actress Nomination
(Mariana Marroquin)
-Maverick Movie Awards (USA)
Award of Excellence for:
Best Short Comedy
Best Direction
Best Editing
Best Screenwriting
Best Acting
-Depth of Field International
Film Festival (USA)
Best Comedy / Dramedy Nomination
-LA Independent Film Awards (USA)
Nominee
-Toronto International
Film and Video Awards (Canada)
1st Runner Up: Best LGBT Short
-Sandbar International Film Awards (UK)
Special Jury Award
-KASHISH Mumbai International
Queer Film Festival
Festival Screenings:
Boston LGBT Film Festival
World Premiere (USA), April 2015
CINHOMO International LGBT
Film Festival (Spain), April 2015
OUTVIEW: Athens Gay and Lesbian
Film Festival (Greece), May 2015
The Tel Aviv LGBT
International Film Festival (Israel),
June 2015
Palm Springs International
Short Film Festival (USA), June 2015
Durban Gay and Lesbian Film Festival (South Africa), June 2015
Mykonos Biennale (Greece), July 2015
La Otra Banqueta (Guatamala), July 2015
IMPERFECTU: International Film
and Gender Studies Festival (Mexico),
July 2015
University Film and Video Association Conference Screening (USA),
August 2015
Reel Affirmations: Washington DC International LGBT Film Festival (USA),
August 2015
North Carolina Gay and Lesbian
Film Festival (USA), August 2015
Breckenridge Film Festival (USA), September 2015
Reeling: The Chicago LGBTQ+ International Film Festival (USA),
September 2015
North Louisiana Gay and Lesbian Film Festival (USA), September 2015
New Filmmakers New York (USA), September 2015
Meta-Queerfest (Belarus),
September 2015
Oslo/Fusion Film Festival (Norway), September 2015
Depth of Field International Film Festival (USA), September 2015
Festival de Cine al Carrete:
Reel Film Festival (Colombia),
September 2015
MICGenero Muestra International De Cine con Perspectiva de Genero-Hepatia Arguero Mendoza – Programacion / Genderlab (Mexico), September 2015
Lesbisch Schwule Filmtage Hamburg - International Queer Film Festival (Germany), October 2015
Festival Internacional Del Cortometraje “FIC” Buenos Aires, (Argentina)
October 2015
Minneapolis Underground Film Festival (USA), October 2015
Out On Film: Atlanta LGBT Film Festival (USA), October 2015
Southwest Gay and Lesbian Film Festival (USA), October 2015
TampaBay International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival
(USA), October 2015
Southampton International Film Festival (UK), October 2015
Porn Film Festival Berlin
(Germany), October 2015
Q Film Festival (Indonesia), October 2015
Florence Queer Festival
(Italy), November 2015
Hawaii International Film Festival (USA), November 2015
9th For Rainbow – Festival of The Sexual Diversity Culture and Film (Brazil), November 2015
Fringe! Queer & Arts Festival London (UK), November 2015
San Francisco Transgender Film Festival (USA), November 2015
Festival Internacional de Cortometrajes de la Diversidad Social (Mexico), November 2015
CONFERÊNCIA INTERNACIONAL SSEX BBOX & MIX BRASIL - part of 23rd Mix Brasil Festival of Diversity (Brazil),
November 2015
Feminist and Queer International Film Festival (Romania), November 2015
Holebikort LGBT Film Festival (Netherlands), November 2015
Crystal Palace International Film Festival (UK), November 2015
International LGBT Film Festival El Lugar Sin Limites (Ecuador), November 2015
The Queer Film Festival at Oldenburg (Germany), November 2015
Big Pride Los Angeles Film Festival (USA), November 2015
Cheries-Cheris 21th Paris Gay Lesbian Trans Film Festival (France),
December 2015
International Queer & Migrants Film Festival Amsterdam (Netherlands), December 2015
Paris Independent Film Festival (France), December 2015
Great Lakes International
Film Festival (USA), December 2015
Directors Circle of Shorts
Film Festival (USA), December 2015
Blow Up Film Festival: Chicago Int. Arthouse Film Festival (USA),
December 2015
Fish & Chips Film Festival- Turin (Italy), January 2016
Leipzig LGBT Film Festival (Germany), January 2016
Gay Ski Week of the Alpe du Grand Serre Ski Station (France), January 2016
Festival International du film Gay et Lesbien de Grenoble (France),
January 2016
Ongelooflijk Genieten Symposium in Utrecht (Netherlands), January 2016
In ShortFilm Festival & Fringe! Present Love+ (London, UK)
February 2016
Brisbane Queer Film Festival (Australia),
February 2016
La Fete du Slip: Gender and Sexuality Film Festival (Switzerland),
March 2016
Queer Film Festival Munchen City
Kinos - Sonnesnstr (Germany),
April 2016
Big Muddy Film Festival (USA),
April 2016
Cine Kink Film Festival, NY (USA),
April 2016
SENE Southeast New England Film, Music and Arts Festival (USA),
April 2016
Traumkino Kiel Transgender Film Festival (Germany),
April 2016
KASHISH Mumbai International
Queer Film Festival (India),
May 2016
PopPorn Film Festival (Brazil),
May 2016
CINEPRIDE: Festival de films lesbiens, gays, bi & trans de Nantes (France),
June 2016
SOHO International Film Festival (USA), June 2016
Fuchsbau Festival Hannover (Germany), July 2016
Rainbow Festival Baltimore (USA),
July 2016
Manila Transgender Film Festival (Philippines),
August 2016
Transgender Film Festival London
(UK), August 2016
Representation Matters: Conversations
on Identity and Community at the Main
Street Museum (Vermont),
September 2016
MIX Copenhagen LGBT Festival (Denmark),
September 2016
San Antonio Q Fest (USA),
October 2016
Los Angeles TransNation Film Festival
Curated by Zachary Drucker (USA),
October 2016
And What? Queer Arts Festival-
Rich MIX London (UK),
October 2016
Everybody’s Perfect Geneva
International Film Festival (Switzerland),
October 2016
SERILE FILMULUI GAY
International Film Festival (Romania),
November 2016
Trans Film Festival Stockholm (Sweden),
November 2016
American LGBTQ Experiences Screening,
University College London (UK),
November 2016
Equality Festival Kyiv (Ukraine), December 2016
Transfeminist Cinema Exhibition “Hacernos Cuerpes”
(Bogota, Columbia, Chile),
January 2017
Punk Queer Screening at Emergency
Art Space Vevey (Switzerland),
January 2017
Best of Kashish Shorts Mumbai
Godrej Culture Lab (India),
January 2017
Antiparos Film Festival (Greece),
July 2017
University Film and Video Association Annual Conference 2015
Respondent’s Review of Joel Moffett’s Technical Difficulties of Intimacy
Candy, (Marianna Marroquin) and Rocco (Buck Angel) are living together and falling in love. A typical boy meets girl story? Not quite. What happens when two transgender characters fall in love? How do they transcend the artifice – or technical difficulties – of their gender identities to experience true intimacy? These are just a few of the questions posed by Joel Moffett’s Technical Difficulties of Intimacy.
The narrative in this two-character drama is finely crafted, keeping the viewer on the edge of his/her seat throughout. Gradually, secrets about each character are revealed. The motif of quotations and re-enactments of a scene from Pillow Talk (Michael Gordon, 1959) is not simply a reflexive technique that creates multiple films-within-films, but also helps us to understand the characters. The duo’s
performances for Rocco’s DSLR and the revelations about past porn experiences are juxtoposed with coy exchanges of Doris Day and Rock Hudson in a way that complicates rather than simplifies gender
identity. Who wears the cowboy hat during “sexy game time”?... And how is this relevant to the expression of love?
The film is simultaneiously romantic, melodramatic, and truly intimate. Moffett marshalls impressive resources from his cinematographer, editor, and composer to tell this story. Deeply saturated green and red place the characters in visual opposition in their lush tropical world, and production designer Meg Hanna creates an incredible M.C. Escher-meets-Pedro Almodovar house, decorated by Candy in her lover’s absence. From the harsh red, white and black of the house’s public spaces, to the edenic green of its bedroom, the production design is a third actor in the drama, seamlessly revealing the characters’ beauty and complexities. The performances of Marroquin and Angel and filled with layers and nuance, sexual desire, emotional confusion and genuine vulnerability, indicating a director in firm control of his craft.
The film is also full of allusions to film history – hints of the senibilites of Technicolor fifties comedies, John Waters, Steven Soderbergh, and even German Expressionism suggested themselves to this viewer – but the film is never derivative. Professor Moffett’s Technical Difficulties of Intimacy challenges conventional notions of gender identity and questions our very definition of love and intimacy in a finely crafted 19-minute narrative that continued to reveal further complexity for this spectator over multiple viewings.
Reviews
“A hilarious look into the challenges of finding answers to the age-old question
'Do you find me attractive?'"
– Baltimore Outloud Magazine
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“Brutally funny and poignant”
– Resident Advisor Magazine
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"Joel Moffett’s film is unconventional in setting, in subject matter and in style — entirely appropriate, given its sexy, humorous exploration of a world outside the cisgender norm. Rocco (Angel) and Candy (Marianna Marroquin) are captivating characters that effectively subvert the “traditional” relationships presented in most of the films in this festival."
– Washington DC Metro Weekly
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"This groundbreaking film is about relationships outside the cis world. It’s a sexy situational comedy about two trans people (played by Buck Angel and Mariana Marroquin) navigating a relationship. It will mess with your comfort zone and your expectations, from set design to something unfortunate that happens to a dildo. This film is fearless in confronting the artifice that keeps love from being complete and authentic.”
– The Boston LGBT Film Festival
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"Three dimensional characters hilariously explore the many facets of identity and sexual desire!"
– CINHOMO International LGBT Film Festival Jury
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"A hilarious look at the topsy-turvy tropes of gender roles and relationship issues!"
– Fringe! London Queer Arts Festival
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"For it's vibrantly colorful characters and mis-en-scene, for its bold embrace of the wide spectrum of trans-identities, and for it's unique wacky narrative and vision!"
– Jury: KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival
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“One of the most honest, funny and unique depictions of a relationship I have
ever seen”
– Megan Mercier
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“Mariana Marroquin and heartthrob Buck Angel carry this hilarious, raucous, and intense short about a trans-on-trans relationship.”
– Zachary Drucker
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“While funny, the film has a lot to say about trans people’s relationships to their own bodies and to each other and was quite moving. Buck gives a stellar acting performance!”
– MS Naughty
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“Fresh, clever and wonderfully acted”
– Harry Vaughn
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“An excellent and humorous short film”
– Everybody’s Perfect: Geneva International Queer Film Festival
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“a romantic comedy that riffs on the classic Rock Hudson – Doris Day movies of the 1960’s with a very queer twist!”
– The Bay Area Reporter
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“A twist on rom-com conventions!”
– The Advocate