THE STORY
"Skinned, " a 15 minute body-surrealism narrative short film, follows Jesse, a 25 year old trans-masculine photographer, on a series of three days turned into dysphoria nightmares. The way Jesse views themself comes into conflict with the way they are gendered and treated out in the world, and these interpersonal interactions morph Jesse's perception of their own body and reality. These surreal sequences displace both Jesse and the audience into an experience of what dysphoria feels like.

While much of the film focuses on Jesse’s disturbing encounters with a world that can only view them in a gendered and controlling way, the film is ultimately about liberation. The decision to pursue gender affirming surgery is often framed as a treatment for misery, but it can also be pursued out of a desire for joy. This film exists as a creative imagining of what the joy on the other side can look like. What does freedom feel like? How do we get there? Does the physical body need to change to experience that freedom, or does the world around me need to change?

At the end of the film, Jesse wakes up into a new life they have quite literally birthed for themself in a sequence that mirrors the childhood memory that opens the film. In that final scene, which walks the line of fantasy and reality, they are able to find that freedom outside the grasp of strangers and perhaps in a new version of their body.

In this project, through surrealism and disorienting cinematography, we aim to recreate the physical feelings of dysphoria for the audience: what I have always described as deep and unsettling nausea. That nausea occurs at moments when the internal view of the self conflicts with the way you are being perceived by people in the outside world. That conflict also creates moments of intense depersonalization. In the film, that nausea and conflict are portrayed through sardonic comedy and the grotesque.

Our cinematography will slide from soft, intimate shots, inspired by pieces like The Florida Project and Normal People to stark, gaudy shots, like moments of The Substance, I Saw the TV Glow, and Birdman. By using shot framing that is often too tight or too distanced, coupled with surrealist, non-logical camera movements, we will mimic the physical feelings of nausea and depersonalization that are caused by moments of gender dysphoria. The characters around Jesse will be portrayed with camp and clowning to highlight the contrast between Jesse’s realistic world and the increasingly disturbing quality of the gender theater in which they are caught.

OUR PURPOSE
I believe understanding the trans experience and the way it feels are fundamental steps to someone changing their views on trans people. Our film specifically aims to recreate for the viewer what the experience of dysphoria feels like. I hope that this film not only creates an experience of identification and recognition for trans audience members, but also teaches cisgender audience members what it feels like to long for a life without dysphoria, and why it is necessary for trans people to have access to gender affirming care and transition.

I also believe this film provides a point of common entry - the major themes and feelings of this film, while specifically a trans narrative, are more broadly relatable. I think many of us long for the days of childhood freedom before the constraints of this world came crashing down on us.

OUR TEAM
Mac Hendrickson is producing the film, with Ben Goelz as Cinematographer. Naomi Honig will direct and play the role of "Jesse."

OUR PRODUCTION PLAN
We are currently slated to shoot in late September 2025, with an estimated completion date of January 2026.

YOUR DONATION
Your donation will make this film possible! We have currently raised 1/4 of our budget - which is $10,000 - and your donation to help us meet our budget of $40,000 will allow this important film to get made.

Thank you for supporting queer and trans filmmaking!