Film
Protect Me From What I Want
A 14-minute film about shame, desire, and the distance between what we do and who we think we should be. Saleem, an Indian student in Leeds, meets Daz for sex at a cruising spot, then spends the next morning wrestling with shame. Quietly devastating in its specificity—about sexuality, family, belonging, and the person you become when no one's watching.
If you liked this
God's Own Country2017
A British pastoral romance about a closeted farmer and a Romanian migrant worker that builds genuine tenderness from initial rough edges. Finds grace in working-class lives and the vulnerability beneath stubbornness.
But Slow and very bleak in parts. The sex scenes are explicit and sometimes uncomfortable to watch, which is intentional.
Weekend2011
Thirty-six hours in the life of two men meeting at a gay club in Nottingham. A genuine love story told with intelligence and humour, full of real conversation and the terror of actual connection.
But Entirely dialogue-driven and deliberately small-scale. Some will find it slight; it rewards patience and attention to nuance.
Pride2014
A group of London LGBTQ+ activists raise money for a Welsh mining community during the 1984 strike. Joyful, angry, funny, and genuinely moving about solidarity and found family.
But The politics are straightforward. If you want moral complexity rather than clarity of purpose, this isn't it.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Protect Me From What I Want
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Boys Don't Cry1999
Both films locate the core of shame not in the person but in the world they inhabit. Both are about the gap between self and survival.
Hilary Swank as Brandon Teena, a trans man in rural Nebraska in the 1990s. A devastating portrait of identity, love, and the violence waiting outside acceptance. Landmark queer cinema made with absolute conviction.
But Based on a real tragedy. The violence is not stylised or distant—it's intimate and unbearable. Not for viewers avoiding accounts of sexual assault.
More like this (8)
Moonlight2016
Three chapters in the life of a Black queer man in Miami, each shot with painterly beauty. About intimacy, vulnerability, and the masks we wear. One of the finest films about desire and identity ever made.
But Deliberately sparse and poetic. Very slow. Some viewers find it remote rather than moving.
Beautiful Thing1996
Two working-class boys in South London fall in love amid Mama Cass and domestic chaos. Warm, funny, and genuinely romantic—proof that queer love stories can be joyful without being shallow.
But Dated soundtrack and some 90s cultural references won't land if you're not of that era. Tonal shifts can feel jarring.
My Own Private Idaho1991
Gus Van Sant's indie masterpiece about two male hustlers, one searching for his mother, one for connection. Visually daring, structurally bold, and utterly uncompromising in its emotional truth.
But Deliberately fragmented and sometimes obscure. The subject matter is bleak and the pacing won't suit everyone.
Moonlight Sonata: Deafness in Three Movements2019
A documentary about a deaf gay activist and his husband, made with formal inventiveness. About communication, intimacy, and how to build a life with someone when the world is not made for you.
But Experimental form. Subtitles and visual description are essential. Not everyone wants their documentary to demand active interpretation.
Handsome Devil2017
Two teenage boys in an Irish boarding school forge an unlikely friendship that becomes love. Witty, tender, and genuinely funny about masculinity, Irish Catholicism, and the damage of shame.
But The school-set story feels familiar. Some of the supporting characters are thinner than the central pair deserves.
All of Us Strangers2023
Andrew Scott as a screenwriter in modern London who encounters his dead parents in an apartment block. A ghost story about grief, acceptance, and the possibility of reconciliation with the past.
But Metaphysically strange and emotionally heavy. Some viewers find the magical-realism elements distracting rather than moving.
Three Colors: Blue1993
Both are about the impossibility of running from yourself. Both ask: what remains when you strip everything away? What do you do with what's left?
Kieslowski's meditation on loss and isolation after a woman's husband and daughter die. Abstract, formally rigorous, built from colour and silence and the possibility of human connection. A masterpiece about how we live after catastrophe.
But Absolutely demands patience. Glacially slow, heavily symbolic, and entirely without plot in the conventional sense. If you need narrative momentum, avoid.
Queer As Folk2000
Both unflinchingly show the internal shame and the external pressure that shape queer self-expression. Both know that desire is complicated and messy, never simple.
Five gay men and women in Manchester navigating sex, love, family, and survival. Raw, funny, shocking, and genuinely moving. British television suddenly understood that queer lives could be both joyful and devastating.
But Graphic depictions of sex and drug use. The tone whips between comedy and tragedy in ways some viewers find chaotic. Early 2000s attitudes have aged unevenly.
People
Cast
- Naveed ChoudhrySaleem
Directing
- Dominic LeclercDirector
Writing
- Dominic LeclercWriter
Production
- Julia CaithnessExecutive Producer
- Tony DixonExecutive Producer
- Diane WhitleyProducer
- Olubukola R. AbiodunProduction Coordinator