Sightlines · reception

How Young Hearts was received

2024 · Anthony Schatteman · Young Hearts on Sightlines

The arc

Premiered quietly in Berlinale 2024's Generation Kplus (kids' jury gave it a Crystal Bear special mention), then snowballed through a year of festival audience awards and streaming word-of-mouth into a genuine Letterboxd darling — a rare 'small European debut' that found its people.

What’s debated

The recurring fight: is its trauma-free gentleness quietly radical or just too safe — a debate almost always staged against Lukas Dhont's Close, the devastating Belgian film it's forever twinned with.

Its footprint

It circulates as shorthand for the 'happy queer coming-of-age' — the film people recommend as 'Close, but it doesn't break you,' and a staple of comfort-movie and cried-in-a-good-way lists.

Where it stands

A fast-rising Letterboxd favorite in the queer comfort-film canon — young, beloved, and already a 'you have to watch this' among fans of gentle European coming-of-age cinema.

Did you know? Schatteman saw around 1,500 boys in casting before finding his two leads — and then shot the film in the village where he grew up, using his own childhood home and school.

Named by the director

• Heartstopper (series) (2022) — Schatteman cited the Netflix series as 'such a good example of things we need' — a model of joyful, tragedy-free queer love stories for young audiences.