Sebastian - PROUD

Max (Ruaridh Mollica) er en 25-årig håbefuld romanforfatter, der bor i London og betaler sine regninger ved at arbejde på et litterært magasin. Frustreret over sine egne ambitioner og presset for at få succes begynder Max at arbejde som sexarbejder under pseudonymet Sebastian, hvor han i hemmelighed mødes med mænd via en eskortplatform og bruger sine oplevelser som inspiration til sine historier. Hvad der starter som nogle få hemmelige møder udvikler sig hurtigt til et skjult natteliv, og den debutroman, han længe har ønsket at skrive, synes endelig inden for rækkevidde. Han finder sig selv mere komfortabel som Sebastian, end han havde forventet, men beslutter samtidig at holde sine aktiviteter hemmelige. Max kæmper gradvist mere med at bevare kontrollen over sit skrøbeligt afbalancerede dobbeltliv. Mens han konfronteres med modstridende følelser af ekstase, skam og euforisk frihed, må Max tage stilling til, om Sebastian blot er et forfatterværktøj til at opnå førstehåndsautenticitet – eller om noget mere er på spil.


Max (Ruaridh Mollica) is a 25-year-old aspiring novelist, living in London and paying his dues working at a literary magazine. Frustrated by his own ambitions and the pressures to succeed, Max begins moonlighting as a sex worker with the pseudonym Sebastian, secretly meeting men via an escorting platform and using his experiences to fuel his stories. What begins as a few furtive meetings soon becomes a hidden nocturnal life, and the debut novel that he has been longing to write finally seems within reach. Finding himself more comfortable as Sebastian than expected, yet determined to keep his exploits a secret, Max increasingly struggles to remain in control of a delicately balanced double-life. As he confronts conflicting feelings of ecstasy, shame, and exhilarating liberation, Max has to reckon with whether Sebastian is merely a writer's tool to achieve first-hand authenticity -- or whether something more is at stake.