For Eddie, the young bodybuilder at the centre of Test, building a body worthy of attention is a consuming ambition.
Understanding his own desires presents a different challenge.
The queer drama, directed by Sam McConnell and written by its lead actor, Brock Yurich, has secured U.S. and Canadian distribution through Dark Star Pictures.
Variety reported the acquisition on October 21, with a theatrical release planned for 2027.
The deal follows the film’s festival run and gives more audiences a future opportunity to see its story on the big screen.
A Body Built for Approval
Yurich plays a small-town athlete striving for a professional bodybuilding career while living with his emotionally demanding mother, Joanne, played by Tammy Blanchard.
As Frameline’s programme describes, he earns money through webcam modelling and channels difficult emotions into his pursuit of physical perfection.
The discipline that shapes his body exists alongside pressures that are harder to resolve through training.
His religious environment adds another layer, with Matthew Morrison, familiar to Glee viewers, playing his pastor.
That combination places Eddie in a world where approval matters enormously, even as his emerging sexuality challenges the expectations around him.
Ambition Meets Attraction
A veteran trainer, Mike, played by Mike Edward, becomes an important figure in his pursuit of success.
The Calgary International Film Festival’s synopsis describes an attraction that develops alongside their involvement with performance-enhancing drugs.
Eddie also reconnects with his ex, Abby, played by Paloma Garcia-Lee, bringing further tension between the future he has imagined and the feelings he is discovering.
The premise suggests a drama interested in the personal cost of ambition as much as the outcome of a competition.
For gay audiences, the contrast is a compelling one: a man willing to put his body on display while finding it much harder to reveal an intimate truth about himself.
That experience can feel recognisable far beyond a gym or a bodybuilding stage.
A Wider Audience Ahead
Test has already attracted festival recognition, including a shared Outstanding First Narrative Feature award at Frameline.
Its distribution news marks another step in reaching viewers beyond those festival screenings.
The planned 2027 theatrical release concerns the U.S. and Canadian acquisition; an exact opening date has not been announced in the reporting cited here.
For now, the film offers a title to watch for anyone drawn to queer stories about desire, family expectations and the difficult work of accepting yourself.
The physical transformation may be what first draws the eye.
The question of whose approval Eddie is living for gives the story its more personal pull.
📷 Tandem Pictures
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