Drew Lint – Discover great gay stories.

Drew Lint, the writer-director behind the sexually-charged 2018 queer thriller M/M, first made a splash on the international film festival scene back in 2014 with this dialog-free 17-minute mind-bender.

The visually inventive Rough Trade stars Matt O’Connor as a nameless sex-worker credited only as ‘The Stud.’ With long hair and angelic beauty, he spends his nights cruising neon-lit streets looking for potential clients.

When he’s picked up by a mysterious man with a fetish for branding, he realizes that he’s about to embark on a particularly challenging date. Welcomed into a cult-like community full of similarly young and handsome leather-clad men, he must decide whether to go back to the streets or start a whole new life within this potentially dangerous underworld.

Evoking the films of David Lynch, Lint leaves much to the viewer’s imagination, but teases us with just enough provocative imagery to keep our eyes glued to the screen.

Watch a short teaser for Rough Trade below. The full short film is now available on Dekkoo.

Matthias lives in Berlin. Matthias likes techno. Matthew likes Matthias. Matthew wants Matthias. Matthew wants to be Matthias. You can see how it all plays out in the intense (and intensely erotic) new drama M/M – now available to stream exclusively on Dekkoo.

M/M is the debut feature film from Canadian-born, Berlin-based writer/director Drew Lint. In association with Lint, it was produced by Karen Harnisch of Film Forge Productions, the Toronto-based production company behind the Cannes Critics’ Week favorite Sleeping Giant. Filmed in 2015 and featuring breakout dramatic performances from Antoine Lahaie and Nicolas Maxim Endlicher, M/M premiered in competition at the Slamdance Film Festival in Park City, Utah in January.

Matthew (Lahaie) is a young Canadian new to Berlin. He’s come to make a fresh start, but he feels the isolation of living in a strange, new city. When he meets Matthias (Endlicher), he is entranced. Beautiful and charismatic, Matthias is everything Matthew wants to be.

Soon Matthew’s interest escalates, becoming an obsession. He begins to transform himself to embody the object of his desire, cutting his hair, getting new clothes. When Matthias gets into a motorcycle accident, the opportunity is too perfect. Matthew is Matthias. In a coma in the hospital, Matthias’ waking life, dreams and memories blur. Where the real ends, the artificial begins. Meanwhile, Matthew sinks deeper and deeper into his new surroundings. When Matthias wakes and confronts him, they embark a new a strange final chapter.

M/M is a film of unique contrasts. Hot queer bodies are entangled together against the heavy grey sky of Berlin. Extreme explorations of identity and desire feel nevertheless familiar. It is surreal but completely grounded in truth and naturalism. Pulsing techno draws you in and washes over you. It the kind of movie that is better experienced than explained.

The movie is also a labor of love. “We made the film with a tiny budget, cobbled together with crowdfunding, some small private investments, and the incredible contributions of key crew who were determined to get it in the can,” said director Lint. “We shot run-and-gun on the streets and in the subway, shooting in doorways, public toilets and abandoned buildings. We adapted to every situation. True to the DIY spirit of Berlin, we persevered and managed to make the film we wanted to make, begging and borrowing when we had to. It was guerrilla shooting at its finest.”