The Letter Men

Between 1938 and 1941, as Europe slid into war, Gordon Bowsher wrote hundreds of love letters to Gilbert Bradley, a serviceman he could never openly claim. At a time when a same-sex relationship could mean court-martial and prison, the two men kept writing, and their correspondence survived to become the largest known collection of LGBTQ+ love letters from the Second World War. Andy Vallentine's short drama uses the actual text of those letters to carry viewers from battlefields to air-raid shelters to stolen golden moments of peace, with Garrett Clayton as Gilbert and Matthew Postlethwaite as Gordon. The film premiered at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival, played some twenty festivals worldwide and collected honors including Best International Short and Best Director, qualifying for Academy Award consideration. It is a moving act of historical recovery and a love story told in the lovers' own words.