Ciao

Two men meet and fall in love under the least joyous of circumstances in this low-key drama from writer and director Yen Tan. Jeff (Adam Neal Smith) has been close friends with Mark most of his life, so when Mark unexpectedly dies, Jeff volunteers to clear out Mark's apartment and tie up the loose ends of his personal business. While examining Mark's correspondence, Jeff learns that he had been exchanging flirtatious e-mails for some time with Andrea (Alessandro Calza), an Internet designer from Italy who made plans to come to America and meet Mark in person -- and he's due to arrive only three days after Mark's passing. Jeff is unable to reach Andrea before he leaves, and ends up meeting the traveler at the airport, passing along the sad news to him. Andrea now has three days to pass in Mark's hometown of Dallas before his flight home, and Jeff offers to show him around the town. Over the next 72 hours, an attraction develops between Jeff and Andrea, based in part on their shared affection for a man they knew in very different ways. Ciao was an official entry at the 2008 San Francisco Lesbian & Gay Film Festival.