The Mess He Made

DramaLGBTQ

Sep 29

Written By Mike Ambs

A film by Matthew Puccini

A Man Spends 15 Minutes Waiting for the Results of a Rapid Hiv Test in a Small-Town Strip Mall.

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Director
Matthew Puccini

Co-Produced by
Tyler Rabinowitz & Matthew Puccini

Director of Photography
Brandon Roots

Cast
Max Jenkins

Featuring
Maya Piel, Zenzi Williams, Andrew Raia, Will Krisanda, Jack Sochet, Sean Higgins

Editor
Henry Hayes

Production Designer
Christina O'Neil

Sound Design
Will Mayo, Arjun Sheth

Music
Emma Kate

Casting
Freya Krasnow

Foley Artist
Joanna Fang

Assistant Director
Edgar Nevarez

Production Manager
Chloe Jury-Fogel

Gaffer
Robert Newman

1st Assistant Camera
Renee Mao

2nd Assistant Camera
John Carges

Key Grip
Levi Sherman

Sound Mixer
Brian Blum

Boom Operators
Nick Dalessio, Brian Ryu

Director's Statement

This is a film about getting tested for HIV in 2017 -- two decades after President Clinton announced that finding an effective vaccine would be a top national priority. Five years after the FDA approved PrEP for reducing the risk of sexually acquired infection. One year after my first Grindr hookup.

This is a film about queer rituals. This is a film about grappling with gay shame. And this is a film about a man who is terrified of winding up alone, but on some level thinks he deserves to be.

I feel very lucky (and terrified) to have so many of my own demons on display in this work - it has been more personal, therapeutic and creatively fulfilling than I could have ever imagined. I’ll always be grateful to my remarkable cast and crew, who stomped into Scranton, PA with me the week after the election, when the world suddenly felt so unfamiliar, and carved out a space for this fierce little film.

Featured

Matthew Puccini is a Brooklyn-based, Bay Area-raised filmmaker. His first film, “Solo,” won the King Award for Screenwriting at NYU’s First Run Film Festival. His latest short, “The Mess He Made,” premiered at SXSW, has screened at over two dozen festivals and is shortlisted for this year’s Iris Prize, an international award recognizing excellence in LGBT cinema.