Lara Fullalove’s beautifully shot and performed short film, Christmas 1978, explores a relationship of silence between a father and son who never found the words to express their deepest feelings.
Christmas is a time of endings and new beginnings, where we reflect on the year about to pass and make plans for the ones yet to come. For many, Christmas is a time of joy, celebration, and laughter; for others, it is a time of year that only cements their feeling that their home life, town, or friendship group has become a prison rather than a sanctuary. For many gay young people who are not ‘out’, and even those who are ‘out’, Christmas is often about hiding, as they work hard to fit in and hide many aspects of themselves in the process. It is a stressful and mentally exhausting time when aunts, uncles, grandparents and distant relatives ask leading questions about girlfriends or boyfriends while tossing out casually homophobic comments after a few drinks that sting like a wasp in summer.
Eighteen-year-old Noah (Ned Wakeley) is ready to leave his rural Devon home and hopes that his secret lover will come with him, but as Christmas Day nears, it’s clear Noah will leave alone. Noah’s parents, Jon (Joe Hancock) and Mary (Michelle McHale), both know their son has a new life they aren’t part of, and they know their rural village and church don’t offer him what he needs. Still, for Jon, a car maintenance man and devout Catholic who keeps his emotions and feelings locked away, his son’s desire to spread his wings stabs like a knife. Silently, without showing emotion, Jon attempts to keep Noah around, even trying to get him to work at the garage he labours in. But nothing can keep Noah from leaving, and as Christmas 1978 draws to a close, Jon’s emotions remain locked away as his son says goodbye.
Lara Fullalove’s beautifully shot and performed short film explores a relationship of silence between a father and son who never found the words to express their deepest feelings. It is a story of the wall religion can create between parents and their children and the moment that barrier leads to a more permanent separation. But Christmas, 1978 is also about the moment gay young people realise that their home town can no longer offer them everything they need to grow and live free. It is a moment all gay people who grew up in small towns, villages or even small cities understand as they realise that life, love and freedom only exist in select places where LGBTQIA+ people have built communities. And that decision and journey are as true today as they were during Christmas 1978.
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