BU Research Blog

“Love, sexual tension, betrayal, abandonment, anger, sadness all simmering under the façade of British politeness”. –previous audience member.

The award-winning short film, Rufus Stone, will be featured by the Media School’s Narrative Group with a screening on Monday, 18th March at 1 pm in Kimmeridge (KG 03).  All are invited to attend.

Rufus Stone is the culmination of three years of Research Councils UK funded New Dynamics of Ageing research at Bournemouth.  The project, ‘Gay and Pleasant Land? was led by HSC and the Media School’s Kip Jones with a team of researchers and an Advisory Committee made up of older LGBT citizens and their service providers.

The film stars well-known actor, William Gaunt (“The Champions“) in the title role, with Harry Kershaw (“One Man, Two Guvnors“) playing young Rufus.  Rufus Stone was directed by Josh Appignanesi (“The Infidel“) with a story by Kip Jones.

Appignanesi describes the plot:

• “Rufus Stone dramatises the old and continued prejudices of village life from three main perspectives. Chiefly it is the story of Rufus, an ‘out’ older gay man who was exiled from the village as a youth and reluctantly returns from London to sell his dead parents’ cottage, where he is forced to confront the faces of his estranged past.  Of these, Abigail is the tattletale who ‘outed’ Rufus 50 years ago when he spurned her interest.  She has become a lonely deluded lush.  Flip, the boy Rufus adored, has also stayed in the village: a life wasted in celibacy (occasionally interrupted by anonymous sexual encounters) and denial (who is) looking after his elderly mother.  But Rufus too isn’t whole, saddled with an inability to return or forgive”.

This screening (30 minutes) will be followed by a discussion by Jones on the use of biography, narrative and auto-ethnography in building the story for the film.

Trailer for the film. All are welcome!