DIRECTED BY ANDY VALLENTINE 2023 USA 99 MINS

In this nuanced, gentle, and ultimately heartfelt dramedy, director Andy Vallentine explores the notion of connection through the experiences of a loving gay couple who discover they have differing ideas about what makes a family. Nico Tortorella (The Walking Dead: World Beyond), Emily Hampshire (Schitt’s Creek), Juan Pablo Di Pace (Mamma Mia!), Carl Clemons-Hopkins (Hacks), Cloie Wyatt Taylor (Partners in Rhyme), Jake Choi (Front Cover, and Heather Matarazzo (Welcome to the Dollhouse) make up The Mattachine Family’s queer power ensemble.

Jumping through moments in time between a collection of characters, The Mattachine Family finds a fiercely in love gay couple — photographer Thomas (Tortorella) and actor Oscar (Di Pace) — maintaining their relationship through steadily remaining fiercely in love through geographical setbacks, after their foster son returns to live with his birth mother. Just as Oscar's acting career begins to rise, Thomas enters something of a pre-midlife existential crisis. As the couple begins to have differing views and desires around what a potential family looks like together moving forward, Thomas leans heavily on a close-knit core of friends for comfort and meaning through it all.

OFFICIAL SELECTION

Seattle International Film Festival | Frameline 47 | Outfest | Newport Beach Film Festival | NEWFEST | Outshine Ft. Lauderdale (OPENING NIGHT) |Chicago Reeling LGBTQ+ Film Festival (OPENING NIGHT) | Tampa Bay GLFF (OPENING NIGHT) | Desperado Film Festival (OPENING NIGHT) | Austin LGBTQ Film Festival / aGLIFF (CLOSING NIGHT) | OutReels Cincinnati (OPENING NIGHT) | Sedona International Film Festival | Out On Film, Atlanta | Hong Kong LGBTQ International Film Festival | Vancouver Queer Film Festival | Tel Aviv, TLFest | Dallas Unleashed | FilmOut San Diego | Edmonton International Film Festival | The Palm Springs LGBTQ Film Festival | Honolulu Rainbow Film Festival | Damn These Heels, Salt Lake City, LGBTQ | OUT at the Movies International Film Festival | Calgary International Film Festival | Q-Fest Wisconsin | Reel Q: Pittsburgh LGBTQ+ Film Festival | Way OUT West Film Fest | Melbourne Queer International FF | Indianapolis LGBT Film Festival | Sydney Mardi Gras Film Festival

The Letter Men is based on the real love letters written by Gilbert Bradley to his sweetheart, Gordon Bowsher during WWII. Exchanged between 1938 and 1941, the letters were uncovered in 2017 and represent the largest known collection LGBTQ love letters from that time period. Using text from the actual letters, The Letter Men follows the two men as their fight to keep their love alive in the face of war and loss.