Swoon is an independent film

Independent film

An independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...

 written and directed by Tom Kalin

Tom Kalin

Tom Kalin is an award-winning screenwriter, film director, producer, and professor of experimental film at European Graduate School in Saas-Fee.His debut feature, Swoon, is considered an integral part of the New Queer Cinema...

, released in 1992. It is an account of the 1924 Leopold and Loeb

Leopold and Loeb

Nathan Freudenthal Leopold, Jr. and Richard Albert Loeb , more commonly known as "Leopold and Loeb", were two wealthy University of Michigan alumni and University of Chicago students who murdered 14-year-old Robert "Bobby" Franks in 1924 and were sentenced to life imprisonment.The duo were...

 murder case, focusing more on the homosexuality

Homosexuality

Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...

 of the killers than other movies based on the case. It starred Daniel Schlachet as Loeb and Craig Chester

Craig Chester

Craig Chester is an American actor and screenwriter.He is best known for his performances in independent films in the 1990s, starting with his debut in Swoon , which earned him an Independent Spirit Award nomination...

 as Leopold.

Along with the films of Todd Haynes

Todd Haynes

Todd Haynes is an American independent film director and screenwriter. He is best known for his feature films Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, Poison, Velvet Goldmine, Safe, and the Academy Award-nominated Far from Heaven and I'm Not There.- Style and themes :The writes that "Haynes is...

, Gregg Araki

Gregg Araki

Gregg Araki is an American independent filmmaker. He is involved in New Queer Cinema.-Early life:Araki was born in Los Angeles but grew up in Santa Barbara, California...

 and others, Swoon is identified as part of the New Queer Cinema

New Queer Cinema

New Queer Cinema is a term first coined by the academic B. Ruby Rich in Sight & Sound magazine in 1992 to define and describe a movement in queer-themed independent filmmaking in the early 1990s...

.

Cast

• Daniel Schlachet as Richard Loeb
• Craig Chester
  Craig Chester
  Craig Chester is an American actor and screenwriter.He is best known for his performances in independent films in the 1990s, starting with his debut in Swoon , which earned him an Independent Spirit Award nomination...
  
   as Nathan Leopold Jr.
• Ron Vawter
  Ron Vawter
  Ron Vawter was an American actor and a founding member of the experimental theater company, The Wooster Group....
  
   as State's Attorney Crowe
• Michael Kirby
  Michael Kirby (figure skater)
  Michael J.R. Kirby was a Canadian figure skater who competed in men's singles. He won the gold medal at the Canadian Figure Skating Championships in 1942 before turning professional and joining the Ice Follies in 1943...
  
   as Detective Savage
• Michael Stumm as Doctor Bowman
• Valda Z. Drabla as Germaine Reinhardt
• Natalie Stanford as Susan Lurie
• Glenn Backes as James Day

Awards

1992 Berlin International Film Festival - Caligari Film Award, Best Feature - Tom Kalin

1992 Sundance Film Festival - Cinematography Award (Dramatic) - Ellen Kuras, nominated for Grand Jury Prize

1993 Independent Spirit Awards - Nominated for Best Cinematography (Ellen Kuras), Best Director (Tom Kalin), Best First Feature, and Best Male Lead (Craig Chester)

1992 Gotham Awards - Open Palm Award - Tom Kalin

1992 Stockholm International Film Festival - FIPRESCI Prize for Best Feature, Audience Award

1993 Fantasporto - Directors' Week Award - Tom Kalin