Berlin-based sales agency M-Appeal has closed the first deal for its erotic gay thriller “In Bed,” selling the rights for France to Optimale Distribution, ahead of the film’s international premiere at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival. M-Appeal boarded the film, Nitzan Gilady’s second feature, at script stage.

“In Bed” unfolds over the 24 hours after a shooting takes place at an LGBTQ pride parade in Tel Aviv. Best friends Guy, 28, and Joy, 31, retreat to the safety of Guy’s home, taking fellow pride parader Dan with them.

With an electric, pop aesthetic, and original soundtrack by Offer Nissim, the film is “an immersive and suspenseful journey into a night of erotic encounters, drugs and paranoia.” One of the main themes of the film is chemsex, a topic rarely represented in cinema, which Gilady explores head on.

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Gilady said: “Rather than stigmatizing, I wanted to show this side of our culture in a truthful way. Not in the sense of being realistic or documentary-like, but portraying, in an honest and visceral way, the feeling of being high, reaching for fantasy, the distortion of reality, and loss of control.”

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Cyril Rota, distribution manager at Optimale, said: “‘In Bed’ looks at the highs and lows of recreational drugs and party culture, an important social topic that many in the gay community can relate to, but is rarely explored in a deeper way. This film draws audiences into a hot and steamy night of suspense, a psychological journey bursting with pop colors, that reminds us of Gaspar Noé’s ‘Climax.’”

Optimale’s upcoming slate includes “Sublet” by Eytan Fox, “Private Desert” by Aly Muritiba, and “Horseplay” by Marco Berger.

Gilady is an Israeli-Yemenite filmmaker based in Tel Aviv. Following several critically acclaimed documentary films, his debut feature film “Wedding Doll” premiered at Toronto Film Festival in 2015, winning multiple awards at the Jerusalem Film Festival and the Israeli Academy Awards.

“In Bed” plays in Tallinn Black Nights’ Rebels with a Cause competition section. M-Appeal has four films screening at Tallinn, including “A Cup of Coffee and New Shoes On” by Gentian Koçi in Main Competition, “Valeria Is Getting Married” by Michal Vinik in the Israeli Focus, and “Bigman” by Camiel Schouwenaar in Just Film, the festival section for young audiences.

“In Bed” was supported by The Rabinovitch Foundation and Mifal HaPais-Israel National Lottery.

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