In Newsweekly, by Rick Dunn

Headline: New Local Film Explores the Dilemma of Mr. Right Now

People are laughing and filmmaker Roland Tec is pleased. He realizes, from the general response of those in the room, that his short film "Hooking Up" has touched on something universal. It's a Friday night in the South End, and it is the first time Tec has shown his film to an audience, one that includes friends, associates and representatives from every gay newspaper in town. His nerves must be exhausted.

The film, which was shot on high-grade video entirely in Boston's gay South End, is a funny, observant take on pick-ups and let downs. For nearly 15 minutes, five couples travel a familiar path through the land of one-night stands. Tec hones in on the moments right before and after sex, examining the awkwardness of the situation.

The majority of the actors live in the South End and were familiar with Tec prior to filming. "Some of the actors I just knew from having worked around town -- gay actors I liked. I did audition them; I had them read on camera," he says. "The situation was pretty simple in writing the script. I was trying to make everybody sound the same; that's the joke, making fun of the way we all sound the same in the same situation. But I did notice that little characters peeked out."

One particular odd couple is lanky comedian Rhys and Steve Cardenas, whose exaggerated posturing wouldn't look out of place in a Falcon Pac video. It's a beguiling contrast, especially when a brawny, glaring Cardenas asks the brainy Rhys, "Why doesn't a hot guy like you have a boyfriend?"

"There were certain couples that leapt out. I wanted to have a variety of style, but I don't think that going into the shoot, I knew just how funny they would be," says Tec of the duo.

South End News, by Cate McQuaid

Headline: Composer and theater director Roland Tec steps into filmmaking

It happens all the time. Two gay men make eye contact at a bar. One buys the other a drink. They sidle into conversation about work, the neighborhood, friends in common. They leave the bar together and walk to one of their apartments.

"Do you live around here?"

"No. I've got to move into the city. I live in Jamaica Plain. It's a pain late at night."

They go into the apartment and crack open a couple of beers.

"I can't believe I've never seen you out before."

"I don't go out much."

"Neither do I."

"It's such a scene. I just can't be bothered."

The conversation is stilted. An awkward silence fills the room. Then one hand finds another across the back of a couch.

Or on the rooftop, one man begins to stroke the other's back.

Or on a tour of the apartment, the two arrive in the bedroom. Anticipation is thick as honey.

"You're handsome."

"I am?"

These are all scenes from Roland Tec's new 13-minute short film "Hooking Up." Each interchange takes place between a different pair, but the single narrative detailing the breathless connection of a one-night stand -- and the subsequent letdown of the morning after -- weaves all the couples tightly together, with one line in one apartment segueing smoothly into the answer in another. One scene cuts to the next with the quickening pace of erotic anticipation, until the archetypal beer bottle spills.

Bay Windows, by Robert Nesti

Headline: High Tec: At work in improv, opera and now film, Boston's Roland Tec is one of the cityÕs artistic wunderkinder

His first film project is the recently completed "Hooking Up," a humorous and very accomplished 18-minute film that takes a comic look at the mating rituals of a group of Boston gay men. In it Tec uses the superficial dialogue that often precedes and follows a sexual encounter and cross-cuts it, Robert Altman-style, between five couples.

"It just started with this basic idea that these really very superficial conversations that people have when they're meeting total strangers is something that is happening in every major city on every given night at several different places at once. These conversations are not unique: they're happening across the street and across town at the same moment, so I thought it would be fun to play with that idea."

To this end he assembled a cast of local gay actors and filmed his script using Super-8 equipment. Once completed, edited and scored, Tec started the often difficult process of shopping it around with hopes of getting it exhibited n film festivals. And upon seeing it, Boston Gay and Lesbian Festival curator George Mansour added it as an addition to the upcoming June event as part of a program of "Four Queer Shorts" next month. The film is a natural for the festival, partly because it's so well made and partly because it concerns an experience that's really unique to this city. "It's funny," Tec recalled, "a friend of mine was telling me that he had a friend in from San Francisco who said the film should be called "Boston Hooking Up" because it's not like this in San Francisco.

Boston Pheonix, by Matt Ashare

Headline: Upstart Auteurs

At Outfest Õ95, the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian International Film Festival, Boston filmmaker Roland Tec got the kind of major break all independent directors hope for. His 13-minute comedy "Hooking Up" was one of dozens accepted by the festival.

But it turned out to be one of the underdog successes. The first screening sold out, and the festival ended up scheduling two more to accommodate audience demands. This Saturday and Sunday, "Hooking Up" comes home for a South End Open Studios-sponsored program at the Boston Center for the Arts.

"It's a comic look at urban gay male mating rituals," explains Tec. "It takes five gay couples and jumps around among them to explore the superficial conversations that take place between strangers on their way to having sex."

Shot on high-8 video and transferred to 16mm film, "Hooking Up" is Tec's first foray into film. His background is in theater: he's run the NewOperaTheatreEnsemble, directed the Naked Brunch improv comedy troupe, and written/produced plays. One of those plays, "All the Rage," will be the text of his first feature length film, which he'll start work on this fall.

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