Does that explain the international enthusiasm for your film?
Schatteman: We submitted an application for support to the youth committee of the VAF. But actually I didn’t want to make a classic children’s or youth film, but a 1990s feel-good film. Like Mrs. Doubtfire of Mathilda: films that will make the whole family curl up on the couch. Wonderful moments.
America brings Young hearts out on Valentine’s Day, because they believe in the film so much. During the screening at the San Francisco Film Festival, people cheered when the bullies came into view, and when the kiss came, the roof went off. At first I was shocked: wow, I made something mega-American. But somehow it makes sense. Those Hollywood films from the past are my examples.
Coming of age by and for queer people is on the rise. Love, Simonthe first American studio film with a gay main character, did well in 2018. Today, Netflix has a hit with Heartstopper.
Schatteman: But even there the father says: “Make sure you don’t get her pregnant” or there is talk about blowjobs. I talk about younger young people. I wanted to make a film for young people aged 10 to 14, the age of their first romantic experience. That is the age when many young people have questions. Questions that I, as a young queer person, could not find answers to. So I took it upon myself to make such a film.
I admit that I consciously don’t look at it Heartstopper I checked to make sure I didn’t copy anything. In retrospect, that wasn’t necessary. But it is indeed cool that a generation is finally growing up with role models.
Is Young hearts primarily a film about first love?
Schatteman: I am very happy if Young hearts is called a film about first love, and not necessarily a gay film. What really mattered to me was that internal struggle that is so intense for every teenager. You don’t have to be queer for that. Everyone sometimes feels like an outsider at that age, because too thin, too fat, too boring… The most important thing was that those boys can be who they are.
You know, there are queer people in every friend group, in every school, in every club. Or there is someone who has two mommies or two daddies. This has now become a kind of normality. But representation remains important. My brother asked, “Are you going to make another gay movie after this?” So yes. These are stories that are close to me and need to exist.
Belgium
