Sunday, June 19, 2022, 4:00pm Roxie
+Streaming
Kieran (Izzi Rojas, pictured right) is a young trans man growing up in rural Ireland. His mother is a traditional Irish Catholic and expects her “daughter” to conform to rigid gender roles, but Kieran is looking for the way off the island, and until then escapes to the theatre club, where he can be himself and also be respected as a capable actor. But then the new kid Egan (Aidan Dick, left) moves in next door. Egan is unabashedly queer, an artist, and in general a free spirit unconstrained by “tradition.” Of course, Kieran and Egan get off to a bad start, eventually bridging the gulf between them and forming a close relationship, but Egan still doesn’t know that Kieran is trans. Kieran has to find himself before he loses Egan.
The film had a particular resonance for me, because I lived in Ireland for a few months in my late twenties. Ireland has changed quite a lot in nearly three decades since then, although some of the seeds of those changes were already beginning to sprout, but many things have not changed. More broadly, though, the characters and the story are eminently relatable, even if you’ve never wanted to be a star of the musical theatre in a tiny little town, and the film is well made in all respects, with production values well beyond its budget.
The core authenticity of the story, though, is in the fact that the writers/directors/producers/actors themselves are trans/non-binary. I’m only sorry I had to rush out before the Q&A with the filmmakers, to catch a screening at another venue. Definitely a must see.
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