Infinitely Curious: Boys don’t cry | 11.06.2023

Boys don’t cry. Or do they? In a world where gender plays an important part in our lives, the role men are called to play is often the tough boy who is called at a young age to get into the shoes of quick man upping. But what is manhood after all? This episode of Infinitely Curious explores why men can actually cry and why it is ok for men just as women do, to express their emotions and feelings and show they too have the right to show tenderness. It all began with a swedish film called Shower Boys, where two eleven year old boys in Sweden shower together, have sauna together, experiment with kissing and explore what it is to be a man if not a mouse; Their anxiety is born when, after a hockey practice, the team’s coach asks them: “Are you men or mice?” This question begins to preoccupy Viggo and his teammate Noel. And this film would not have made headlines in the Greek media if a Greek teacher didn’t have the courage to show it to her 4 grader students. It was this public screening that sparked reactions from parents associations and had to even be mediated by an extra-judicial court in Greece following a lawsuit by two parents who deemed it inappropriate and condemned it as a film that promotes homosexuality at schools. Yet, the 9-minute long Swedish film Shower Boys by Cristian Zetenberg follows two young boys as they discover the limits and rules of friendship, while at the same time agonizing over their manhood and trying to discover who they really are. To date, it has been screened at around 20 festivals and has won the Nordic Star Award at the BUFF International Children’s Film Festival.