Video: This short film encapsulates the nerve racking moments before a first date

“We wanted to create and evoke a utopian world in which gender-fluid or non-binary imagery doesn’t evoke any disturbing or mixed feelings at the viewer. I believe that the more people get used to those images, the more society will get a liberating view on sex and gender in general,” director Harun Güler explains about the film.

Reading between the lines of the dystopian love story, the short film challenges stereotypes, especially regarding gender roles and pre-conceptions of love. “What does it mean to be masculine or to behave like a woman? People still stick to those vague ideas of gender as if it was a fixed entity provided by nature. Though, once you deconstruct the terms masculinity and femininity, they end up having no meaning,” says Güler.

Below, discover Güler's prologue of a love story between two princes – the intimate moments just before the ball. Will they fall madly in love before the clock strikes midnight?

Lots are the legends and stories that talk about the princess meeting the prince for the first time. Now promised in hand to another land’s heir, she silently completes the rituals around her now set destiny. The story is monotone and bleak, there are no ups or downs other than the now outdated patriarchal view of society, women and love.

Take a pause for a moment now, let go of the traditional story but stay in the fairytale. Take away what’s classic and break the mould with a story that hasn’t been told before. In this tale, the prince is the one who’s getting ready, he was not promised, rather he gave himself out to the heir of a faraway kingdom. Hundreds, if not thousands, of letters have flown through the continents from castle to castle, from land to land and only in physical has their bond not been consummate, emotionally, they belong to one another — or at least that’s what he thinks. That’s what they both think.

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And here’s the thing, in this story, in this land, the prince has no princess, the prince has a prince and the prince is loved and accepted as it is. Some might’ve thought that declaring who he truly loved was the hardest thing in his storyline, and honestly, it was. But his love was met by a loving kingdom who saw past labels and stereotypes, he was met with love and acceptance and that allowed both parties to flourish in their true, best, selves. But this time it’s different, now it’s not a matter of acceptance, it’s now a matter of connection, a matter of chemistry according to the alchemists and a matter of fate according to the druids.

You could sense the chaotic energy throughout the whole realm, in the castle servants and maids ran across the halls and in his chambers the prince scrambled to get ready. Do not be fooled, he looked calm and collected on the outside, but his mind was a whole other story. The pounding of his heart resonated through his eardrums, there was a single drop of ice cold sweat forming on the back of his neck and every couple minutes there was a fully unintentional giggle that would escape his mouth, originated right where the mage called the butterfly cage — the upper stomach, the second mind.

He carefully placed the selected linens on his body, the crown jewels on his head and the most rare of oils through his temples down to his neck. With a shaky hand, he buttoned his shirt and secured the crown, time was stuck in existence and the air seemed thick as water. And suddenly, the trance was broken and reality was brought back into existence like a cold, frigid wind. The distinct rattling of a chariot was heard outside while the stablemen tended the horses. He had arrived.

While making his way down the castle, he embodied the holy visions the elders spoke about. Pages, damsels and even the king and queen watched, mesmerised by the vision of the young heir who was on his way to meet who he declared the love of his life, and suddenly, mid-flight, he stood still. Time stopped, what if he didn’t love him back? What if the man behind the letters was not real? What if the illusion was no more than a fantasy? What if all the late nights and long letters were just a wild, evil creation of his mind and desire? Stuck in this thought, completely frozen, with no ability to move, the castle doors slowly creaked open and light flooded the sanctuary. The foreign prince walked slowly into the room and their eyes, for the first time ever, locked themselves within each other. At that second, time regained its course and in his eyes our monarch could see all his worries melt away, all the fantasies become true and the one he most wanted materialise. Cause in the end, love was and is love, and boys will forever be boys.

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