Pillion (2026)
Colin (Harry Melling, from the Harry Potter franchise), a shy young man living with his loving parents, hasn’t made the connections he’s been looking for in the gay bar scene. When he crosses paths with Ray (Alexander Skarsgård), a charismatic leather-clad biker, he begins to learn the joys of sexual submission, or what he comes to call “devotion.” First-time writer-director Harry Lighton adapts Adam Mars-Jones’s popular novel Box Hill: A Story of Low Self-Esteem into a sweetly melancholic rites-of-passage-into-manhood story. Lighton handles the ups and downs of this love story—including a meet-the-parents scene—with impressive economy and elegance. Nick Morris provides the gently lyrical cinematography and Melling and Skarsgård prove to be a delightfully winning couple. It’s the first, very charming entry in a new and unexpected genre: the BDSM romantic comedy.
“An unconventional love story that finds pathos amid the PVC, this triumphant directorial debut bares so much more than flesh. Bruising and brilliant.” — The Empire
Upstate Films programs are made possible with funds from the New York State Legislature and administered by Arts Mid Hudson, Dutchess Tourism and by Dutchess County Community Grants Fund of the Community Foundations of the Hudson Valley.
