Writer-directors rewrite history with the short film “Sweetheart,” following the hidden stories of queerness in the 18th century. Based on a forgotten history of Molly Houses in 1723 London, the film considers Thomas Neville’s introduction to this unexpected community in a modern light.
“We wanted to know what it would be like if the stories that we’re reading were told by the very people who they’ve been written about,” said screenwriter Alastair Curtis. “And that was just really exciting because it’s a contact with a generation that lived 300 years ago, yet we still feel quite close to, and we still feel very thankful for.”
Curtis and director Luke Wintour relied heavily on the research and guidance of cultural historian Richtor Norton, working to explore 18th century court records of sodomy trials in London, a time when same-sex acts were punishable by death.
“The odd fact that Luke and I discuss quite a lot is that the only way in which queer lives enter history is when they encounter the police, or they encounter danger, or when they are arrested falsely, or were arrested for doing things that we do today without much thought,” said Curtis.
The process of digging through these historical records was an act of resurrection for those who had been erased or misrepresented in mainstream historical narratives, said Curtis and Wintour.
Molly Houses were secret meeting places where people would gather and experience the rare freedoms of expression by dressing in drag, marrying and meeting others in the community. These clubs and their patrons risked persecution at every turn, and every unknown newcomer presented a risk to the fabric of their existence. As they opened these narratives from a new lens of hope and strength, the pair found a through line within the queer experience of today.
“The question of trust then was huge because the stakes were so so high,” said Wintour. “I think that that question of trust maybe has slightly evolved in the U.K., but for some people, that completely still exists in a certain way, but it almost feels like it existed in a slightly more subliminal way.”
Wintour and Curtis feel their lives have paralleled those in antiquity as they each experienced their own clarity of acceptance and trust upon entering the queer space for the first time.
As the protagonist, Thomas, enters a Molly House for the first time, he sees a world where his shame is an outlier, said Curtis, and this replicates the experience people have felt for generations in which pain turns to hope.
“Suddenly you’re in this world in which people are in drag and cross dressing, and actually his very nervousness and his very feeling of inner shame is the one thing that could incriminate him in this world, because he needs to be a part of it,” said Wintour.
“I remember going to Adonis, a club in London, feeling like everything I do is wrong. Wishing to be a wallflower, but also, I don’t want to be a wallflower. I should be here,” said Wintour.
For Wintour, this film’s premiere on Thursday afternoon changed the meaning of his work, whereby watching it with the rest of the public audience allowed him to see his project in greater clarity, realizing the impact the film could now have on its audiences.
Having combed through historical accounts of court records and other salacious journalistic reportings, Curtis and Wintour weaved a narrative that combines the modern experience with those left untold in the past.
“We sort of waded through court records, and we began to find these personalities, like Princess Serafina, who was one of the only trans people we can find in these records, people like Julius Caesar Taylor, a Black man who ran his own Molly House on Tottenham Court Road in central London. Many of the characters in the film, Thomas Neville, Ned Courtney, are based on real people as well,” said Curtis.
In exploring these real people of the 1700s, the film retells their stories in modern terms, down to the casting of many famous drag performers in London in those roles where they embody a history of resilience and defiance that continues to support queer spaces today.
“Much of our supporting cast are made up of what is really the creme de la creme of drag performers in London. Seeing them on a screen in the middle of America, 5,000 miles away, an eight-hour time difference: It’s quite strange seeing Miss Sharon Le Grand doing Princess Seraphina in the middle of the desert,” said Curtis.
As Curtis and Wintour took inspiration from the stories they read in their research, they also took heart in the generational knowledge of cast member Ian Gelder, who played The Duchess and who died in May 2024.
“Ian can’t be on the journey with us, and that is something that we carry quite deeply. This is a film about generations and taking inspiration, insight, advice and help to new generations, and our equivalent had been Ian as our elder. Seeing him on the big screen in front of 400 strangers is an odd experience, and I’m sure he’d be absolutely thrilled,” said Curtis.
The 18-minute film took two and a half years to create.
“Every detail we really labored over but I think in the end, it really is amazing, the differences that each of these little stages can make. But it’s our baby,” said Wintour. “Because it represents our community as well, and we care deeply about everyone behind the scenes and in front of that camera.”
From the historical research, to casting, location, costume design, and the original score, “Every part of it was like a short film in itself,” said Wintour.
Short Film Program 1 in-person screenings
- 9:40 a.m., Jan. 31, Megaplex Redstone 2
Online
- 8 a.m., Jan. 30 through 4:55 a.m., Feb. 3