Can a novelist balance two different identities? The new film “Sebastian” sees a young writer become a sex worker while pursuing his dreams at a literary magazine. His time as a male escort reveals feelings that blur the lines between reality and fiction. The project hails from writer and director Mikko Mäkelä, who was named an LGBTQ filmmaker on the Rise by Indiewire. Mäkelä is a Berlinale Talents alumnus and participated in the inaugural BIFA Springboard Programme sponsored by Netflix. His previous feature, “A Moment in the Reeds,” was also screened at the BFI London Film Festival.
Ruaridh Mollica stars as the title character. Hiftu Quasem, Ingvar Sigurdsson, Jonathan Hyde, Leanne Best, and Lara Rossi round out the cast.
The film’s official synopsis:
Max (Ruaridh Mollica) is a 25-year-old aspiring novelist living in London who is paying his dues working at a literary magazine. Frustrated by his own ambitions and the pressures to succeed, Max begins moonlighting as a sex worker with the pseudonym Sebastian, secretly meeting men via an escorting platform and using his experiences to fuel his stories. What begins as a few furtive meetings soon becomes a hidden nocturnal life, and the debut novel that he has been longing to write finally seems within reach.
Finding himself more comfortable as Sebastian than expected, yet determined to keep his exploits a secret, Max increasingly struggles to remain in control of a delicately balanced double-life. As he confronts conflicting feelings of ecstasy, shame, and exhilarating liberation, Max has to reckon with whether Sebastian is merely a writer’s tool to achieve first-hand authenticity —or whether something more is at stake.
A novelist discovers another life in “Sebastian.” The film opens in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco on August 2nd. Watch the trailer below.