GAYLETTER

GAYLETTER

A still from the film

Film: Naomi Campbel

OK, simmer down now queens, this is not a documentary film about supermodel / actress / badass Naomi Campbell but rather a searing film about a trans woman from Chile named Yermén trying to formulate a plan to get sex reassignment surgery. Yermén is in her mid thirties living in a run down apartment on the outskirts of Santiago, and thankfully doesn’t hook for a living but instead works a phone line as a spiritual guide reading tarot cards for her clientele. Here’s the crazy part — Yermén tries out to be a contestant on a reality TV show because the prize (if she is cast) is a plastic surgery of her own choosing. While sitting in the waiting room of the casting she meets a woman who dreams of looking like Naomi Campbell, hence the title.

 

The film, by directing duo Nicolás Videla and Camila José Donoso presses the boundaries of classic documentary filmmaking, a goal successfully reached by the Art of The Real Series, Documentary Redefined. “Elements of raw,corporeal reality and documentary scenes shot on video in the middle of the night alternate with a minimalist fictional plot which is primarily an opportunity to follow Yermen’s transformation into the person she has always been.” My dear friend, and GAYLETTER co-conspirator, William came along to the screening and offered me two delicious candies laced with THC for the event, thank you! We went across the street to the classic P.J. Clarke’s for burgers after the screening to discuss our experience of the film and as William so poignantly noted, “It sure sparks conversation.”

 

$14, 9:30PM, Francesca Beale TheateR, 144 W.65th St. NY, NY.