Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party

2015, 87 minutes
USA

Director: Stephen Cone

MdFF is proud to bring back to Baltimore this excellent coming-of-age feature, which had its world premiere within Maryland Film Festival 2015! Two teenage boys, preacher’s kid Henry Gamble (Cole Doman) and his friend Gabe (Joe Keery), have a sleepover the night before Henry’s seventeenth birthday pool party. Typical teenage boy chat quickly turns sexual, and it’s silently implied that Henry, on a search for identity, has a crush on Gabe. As guests arrive and day turns to night, Henry carefully navigates the religious strictures and sexual secrets of his community. Pat Healy (Cheap Thrills) co-stars.
 
“Cone, himself a preacher’s son whose features gener- ally explore Christian milieus, doesn’t condescend while tracing the moment when faith becomes an obstacle to self-realization.”–Vadim Rizov, AV Club