Dirty is a 2020 short LGBT coming-of-age romantic drama film, written and directed by Matthew Puccini. It premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize for Best Short Film.[1]

Dirty
Poster
Directed byMatthew Puccini
Written byMatthew Puccini
Produced byCecilia Delgado
Matthew Puccini
Jeremy Truong
StarringMorgan Sullivan
Manny Dunn
CinematographyMatt Mitchell
Edited byWilliam Sullivan
Music byNathan Prillaman
Production
companies
Jacob Burns Film Center
Bering Pictures
141 Entertainment
Distributed byThe Criterion Channel
Release dates
  • January 24, 2020 (2020-01-24) (Sundance Film Festival)
  • April 2, 2020 (2020-04-02) (SXSW)
Running time
11 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The film made its online premiere through a virtual screening by SXSW, as the festival was cancelled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, the festival still awarded the film with a Special Jury Award for the performances of its lead actors, Morgan Sullivan and Manny Dunn.[2][3][4] It then went on to play at BFI Flare, Outfest Fusion, Atlanta Film Festival and the Palm Springs International ShortFest; at the latter it was nominated for Best LGBTQ+ Short.[5][6] In October 2020, the film's streaming rights were acquired by The Criterion Channel.[7]

Premise

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Marco cuts class to spend the afternoon with his boyfriend, Graham. Things do not go as planned.[8]

According to Puccini, this film and his previous short, Lavender (2019), are personal to him, saying: "I’m grateful for both films for different reasons and they are all part of one period of my life — exploring these ideas of intimacy and loneliness and queer people seeking connection. In some ways they’re almost two attempts to answer the same question."[9]

Cast

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  • Morgan Sullivan as Marco
  • Manny Dunn as Graham
  • Sean Patrick Higgins as Mr. Flanangan

Ethan River Cohen, Chelsea Eason, Cherish Hearts, Ryan Knight, Octavia Kohner, Maurice Nelson, Zac Porter, Olivia Sulkowicz, Melissa Topnas, Arianna Wellmoney and Jude Young appear as students during the opening scenes.

Accolades

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Film festival awards

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Year Award Film Festival Recipient Result
2020 Short Film Grand Jury Prize Sundance Film Festival Dirty Nominated
Grand Jury Award - Narrative Short SXSW Film Festival Nominated
Special Jury Recognition for Acting Morgan Sullivan
Manny Dunn
Won
Best LGBTQ+ Short Palm Springs International ShortFest Dirty Nominated
Fiction Shorts Competition Montclair Film Festival Nominated

References

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  1. ^ "2020 Sundance Preview: 10 Must-See Short Films in Park City". IndieWire. January 23, 2020. Retrieved June 3, 2020.
  2. ^ "SXSW Film Festival Shorts To Stream On Mailchimp Presents". Deadline. March 5, 2020. Retrieved June 3, 2020.
  3. ^ "The 2020 SXSW Film Festival Announces Jury and Special Awards". SXSW. March 24, 2020. Retrieved June 3, 2020.
  4. ^ "SXSW 2020: Best Short Films Streaming Online". The Young Folks. May 9, 2020. Retrieved June 3, 2020.
  5. ^ "Palm Springs ShortFest Selects 2020 Films". Palm Springs Life. June 5, 2020. Retrieved June 5, 2020.
  6. ^ "Take a look: ShortFest announces lineup of 332 short films". Palm Springs Desert Sun. June 4, 2020. Retrieved June 5, 2020.
  7. ^ "October 2020 Programming on the Criterion Channel Announced". Criterion Cast. September 24, 2020. Retrieved December 23, 2020.
  8. ^ "Matthew Puccini - Dirty". Retrieved June 5, 2020.
  9. ^ "Behind the Title: Unit9 director Matthew Puccini". postPerspective. April 8, 2020. Retrieved June 5, 2020.
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