ABOUT THE PROJECT

LOGLINE
When a first love challenges his guarded sense of what’s possible, a hot-headed young gay man with mild cerebral palsy is forced to confront the disability he’s let consume and define him.

SYNOPSIS
Ben is a hot-headed young gay man with mild cerebral palsy. He lives a solitary and routine life in a working-class neighborhood, occupying the grey space between abled and disabled. When his disability check arrives much reduced, he sets out to stubbornly prove that he doesn’t need anyone’s assistance. He works fatiguing hours at a grocery, rejects institutional support, and further isolates behind ill-conceived hookups and virtual connections.

But then Ben is unexpectedly courted by Max, a smart-ass college student, also with cerebral palsy, who uses a wheelchair. While physically more disabled than Ben, Max has benefited from the resources and support of an upper-middle-class family. He’s charmed by Ben’s aggression and sees him as a challenge, perhaps fueled by class differences.

While resistant to intimacy with other disabled men, Ben gradually lowers his guard with Max, allowing himself to be emotionally and sexually open. He finds joy, and perhaps most importantly, hope, in their courtship. Ben’s unleashed desire for real connection inadvertently pushes Max away. And as the effort to sustain their relationship eclipses all else, Ben spirals into a self-destructive odyssey that forces him to confront the power of a disability he’s let consume and define him.

PROJECT TYPE Narrative Feature

DIRECTOR Travis Mathews
PRODUCER Jonathan Duffy and Kelly Williams; Andrew Carlberg

WEBSITE oscillatewildlythemovie.com