Pommelled: A Sports Rivalry Short Film

Aim

Two athletes. One rivalry. One visceral, cinematic short film starring a Team GB athlete seeking to raise last 25% of our budget...

Tired of not fulfilling his potential, eternal bridesmaid Leo takes to the gymnasium to practice his pommel horse routine, but soon finds himself consumed by jealousy when his rival Zach outshines him once again, and their training session escalates into something far more dangerous, intimate, and personal...

Why This Story

You toil, sweat, graft, and bleed for your life’s greatest ambition. Your number one goal in life is to become the artist you know you can be. But there’s just one problem. Someone else thinks that, too. And they’re better than you.

It’s all you’ve ever wanted, but this rival gets all the glory and rewards you crave. Some people can handle that jealousy better than others. Some people allow it to corrupt them... like Leo.

The truth is...

Every single filmmaker has felt the way Leo does. That’s how this story was born, my own jealousy, self-doubt, bitterness, and personal cost of the pursuit of my passion. We’re just swapping out filmmaking for the pommel horse. This is a visceral film with fundamental, human emotions at heart, and every filmmaker, cinema lover, and audience member will relate to Leo’s experiences.

The Director

I'm Jacob Sarkisian, I'm the writer and director of Pomelled. I actually started out as a film and TV journalist (for 9 years), where I covered short films a lot. That taught me so much about filmmaking from a different, audience-led perspective. From here, I moved into the film industry and made my first film, The Rainbow Crossing Academy, which has its world premiere at the prestigious HollyShorts UK Film Festival. Rainbow was longlisted for five awards at The British Short Film Awards: Best Live-Action Film, Best English Short, Best Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor twice.

I have directed three more short films since then and now work extensively in the industry as a director, producer, writer, and script editor. Pommelled was born from the lessons I learnt whilst making Rainbow, where I found the scenes I loved the most were the ones without dialogue, that just let the images speak for themselves. This idea then grew into two rival pommel horse athletes, which is naturally such a visual and physical subject matter. This made it the perfect visual-only vehicle for me to explore topics I am most interested in: masculinity, male intimacy, ambition, and core human emotions such as jealousy and loneliness.

I wear my heart on my sleeve as a person, and I always want my films do the same thing, which is why I think people connect to them. Pommelled will utilise everything I love about filmmaking... cinematic trickery, inventive camera work, creative editing, and bold gambits, inspired by the works of Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Luca Guadagnino, and Park Chan-wook. I love combining brave, inventive filmmaking with genuine heart. 

That is my ethos as a filmmaker, and Pommelled will be a statement short film showcasing that.

Masculinity

Masculinity is increasingly a timely topic, and our exploration of how men can be so physically open but so emotionally closed off is vital. The statement of the film is that in order for men to become the people that they want to be, they must learn to let go of ego and anger, and allow themselves to be vulnerable and open and intimate with one another. 

As a gay man, masculinity is a subject I love exploring. I satirised masculinity in my previous film and, as a journalist, frequently wrote about these themes. I have always felt on the outside of male intimacy despite being gay, and it is this dichotomy that I want to explore in this film. How can men be so physically open but emotionally closed off? Is it even possible for young men to be vulnerable with one another? The world needs honest, open stories about male intimacy now more than ever and this is my interpretation of these themes.

Sporting Rivalries

Sporting rivalries are hot topics right now, particularly ones with queer angles or subtexts, like Pommelled has. Challengers and Heated Rivalry prove that audiences love these stories, and Pommelled captures that zeitgeist and gives it its own cinematic spin. While those stories honed in on the external and physical, we focus much more on the internal journey of these athletes’ obsession, jealousy, and male intimacy. We just use the natural visuals of their sport to communicate these topics, using cinematic, surreal visuals to express their inner journeys.

We're proud that the final message and image of the film is one of unity. This film states that in order to grow, we must let go of our jealousies, as sport is all about community, self-improvement, and positivity.

Our Ace in the Hole — Team GB

The LA Olympics are right around the corner. We’ve got Team GB athlete Josh Nathan playing Zach, so we could very well have an Olympian starring in our film, giving us a once-in-a-lifetime promotional opportunity for this project. And because we are a dialogue-less film under 10 minutes, we would easily be able to play at any festival or on any streaming service or TV station around the world, all of whom will be looking to program and take advantage of Olympic fever. POMMELLED is that film. And this chance won’t be here forever. 

The Style

The boys’ bodies (fingers, toes, eyes, lips, skin) will portray not just power and athleticism but intimacy and tenderness, while the tactility of honey, blood, sweat, water, chalk will counter-act the sensuality to create a tactile, tangible world. 

We’ll rig a camera to the pommel horse as if we’re shooting from the horse’s POV, while stylised lighting will create the vibe that this gym is the only thing in their entire world (because to them, it is). We’ll push this further when Zach performs his routine amongst the stars or when a gigantic Zach climbs out of his own photo to haunt Leo, placing us in Leo’s psyche. 

Sound design, in particular,  will be crucial. The pommel horse breathing as if alive will haunt Leo, while every squeak of material, every breath or pant, every rub of skin or squelch of blood or honey will be cranked up to 10.

This will be a fast-paced, intense, energetic film that will pack a hell of a punch in just 10 minutes.

The Team and The Plan

The prestigious Developing Room Films (To Catch a Siren, The Truth About Space) have just joined as producers. Each of these companies’ films have played at major Oscar/BAFTA/BIFA-qualifying film festivals around the world.

We are a Slick Films Fund finalist, a UK Short Film Fund runner-up, The Developing Room Short Film Fund Finalist, an Unrestricted View Film Fund Finalist, and were shortlisted for Best Unproduced Screenplay at the 2026 British Short Film Awards.

With this incredible team of top-tier filmmakers and athletes assembled, we are aiming for an ambitious festival run — Cannes, TIFF, Venice, BFI London Film Festival, and more. Because we've got all the ingredients to become a first-class short film. We just need your help to get there.

We are 75% of the way there to being fully funded. You can help us. But we wouldn't ask you to give us anything for free... check out the great rewards below!

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 11th January 2027 at 5:35pm