Director Anthony Schatteman and Actor Marco Pigossi Bring Personal Projects to Out On Film

thegavoice.com:

For director Anthony Schatteman and actor Marco Pigossi, their new films mean a lot to them — both professionally and as gay men.

Schatteman’s “Young Hearts” is the opening night film for this year’s Out On Film, while Pigossi stars in the closing night film “High Tide.” “Young Hearts” is the story of 14-year-old Elias (Lou Goossens), living in a small Belgian town, who falls for his new neighbor Alexander (Marius De Saeger).

At the age of 31, director Schatteman wanted to make a movie for a younger version of himself. “I was talking with a friend of mine and her little boy was nine years old and he asked me one day [if] ‘I had an example of a movie I could watch because I think I like a boy in my class.’  I could not find an example.

It was so weird. [At] this age, people start discovering themselves, and we are more free to talk about sexuality, so kids develop at a younger age the knowledge that they may be queer or feel different than everyone else.” Schatteman grew up with movies like “Brokeback Mountain” and later there were similar-themed films such as “Call Me By Your Name.” “But in all of these films, there are sexual scenes or sexual references,” he said. “I really wanted to make a film that was watchable for all ages.