There has always dwelt a gray area between the realms of public versus private and gay versus straight. It is where secrets happen in the open and where right wing senators go to "widen their stance." It is the men's room.
And there is now a short film dedicated to it. Aptly, it is called The Men's Room and it will see its world premiere at the Atlanta Film Festival on Sunday, March 25.
Even in the gay world, the phenomenon isn't celebrated so much as appreciated with a smirk (though, Keith Haring definitely thought it was something to celebrate), but it is often deemed outright abhorrent by the larger community.
This is the issue that drives The Men's Room, which stars Russell Sams and Blake Robbins and directed by Jane Pickett. That is, the question of where the public realm begins and ends and who, exactly, gets to use it as they please.
The film's protagonist Thomas goes into a restroom for a sexual encounter and ends up getting a cop instead, plunging him and the viewer into a world of moral complexity and ambiguity, desire, and betrayal.
You can get your tickets for the 4pm screening at Landmark Midtown Art Cinema here.
