Joe Locke goes missing after weekend with teacher in Black Church Bay first look
Black Church Bay will screen at London Film Festival. (BFI)
The first look images for Black Church Bay, starring Heartstopper’s Joe Locke and Weekend’s Tom Cullen, have dropped.
The gay mystery-thriller from queer filmmaker Rhys Marc Jones is centred on the dark unravelling of a teacher and his student.
The gripping drama’s synopsis reads: “A school teacher must deal with the aftermath of the disappearance of one of his students.”
Set in a Welsh fishing village, school teacher Barry (Cullen) and his openly gay sixth form student Jasper (Locke) spend a weekend together. However, the following week, Jasper doesn’t return to class and has gone missing.
This kickstarts a journey for deputy head teacher Barry that shows the lengths he will go to cover up his private life. The disappearance throws the teacher’s life into disregard as long-buried secrets are exposed and the community’s harmony is threatened.
Described as “a tense and thought-provoking drama,” the film is certainly a departure from the wholesome nature of Heartstopper for Locke.
Also, this isn’t Cullen’s first queer project. The actor starred in Andrew Haigh’s acclaimed drama Weekend, the story of a short but life-changing gay romance.
In the first released still of the film, Cullen and Locke appear by an open body of water. Locke is wearing a plaid monochrome over a see-through white vest with an assortment of silver necklace chains.
Public screenings of Black Church Bay will be held at the London Film Festival on the 15th and 17th of October. Tickets will be available for purchase here.
‘A tense and thought-provoking drama’
Since Heartstopper, Locke hasn’t slowed down. He starred as Wiccan in Marvel’s Agatha All Along.
His next rumoured project is a body horror film that is said to explore male pregnancy.
Film Crave posted the rumour that the actor will be starring in Sam Max’s debut feature film, BABY. According to the post, Locks stars as “a young male sex worker who becomes pregnant with a mysterious creature”.
Max posted on Instagram in April that he had wrapped his debut feature.
“Wrapped my first feature yesterday. Hardest 28 days of my life. Departed reality entirely,” he wrote.
“Thank you for the dream, to everyone who touched this shoot. I hardly have the words, only that I’m in a surreal place and I won’t come back for a long time. I’ll never, ever forget you. Touched/moved… I’ll make you proud and can’t wait to share it with you.”
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