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Trailers...

  • Stress Positions
  • Fisherman's Daughter (The)
  • Monster of Many Noses (The)
  • Shadow of the Sun (The)
  • Lessons of Tolerance
  • Naked Ambition
  • Faceless After Dark
  • Abang Adik
  • Barber
  • Klimakteriet
  • Extremely Unique Dynamic
  • Becoming Karl Lagerfeld
  • Lady Like
  • León
  • I Wish You All the Best
  • I Don't Know Who You Are
  • Happy Clothes: A Film About Patricia Field
  • 5 nanomoles - the Olympic dream of a trans woman
  • Live Like There is Tomorrow
  • Elda and the Monsters
  • Road House
  • Wakhri (One of a Kind)
  • Critical Zone
  • Doppelgängers³
  • Frida
  • Sing Sing
  • Janey
  • Palm Royale
  • Betânia
  • Avant-Drag!
  • Love Alone Can't Make a Child
  • Broken Hearts Trip
  • Vestidas de azul
  • Young Hearts
  • Teaches of Peaches
  • You Promised Me the Sea
  • Reas
  • Malu
  • Lesvia
  • King Baby

Sidney & Friends

Country: UK, Language: English, 75 mins

  • Director: Tristan Aitchison
  • Producer: Tristan Aitchison; Amanda Millen

CGiii Comment

Artistry, in documentary filmmaking, is too rare. So...when a documentary's opening credits manages to grab your attention and sets the tone for the film from the outset...you just know you're going to be watching something rather special. Sidney & Friends is special.

Shot in black & white, with beautiful photography, haunting & horrific blackouts...and, a soundtrack that is worthy of [countless] awards...Sidney & Friends is a pull-no-punches, emotional rollercoaster ride...tradition & christianity, demons & priests, doctors & IDs, just a few of the insurmountable obstacles that the trans & intersex people of Kenya have to contend and negotiate with...on a daily basis. This bashing-your-head-against-a-brick-wall type of existence presents an entirely different perspective on the trans/intersex fight for equality. This is not a fight for equality, this is their [daily] fight for survival.

Grim as it may sound, the film is punctuated with moments of levity and joy...the indomitable spirit of humanity shines through...amidst the [understandable] tears and the [incomprehensible] suffering. 'God is Good' echoes throughout the film...good, because, He has given Sidney and his friends the ability to lie! Well, religion [& tradition], doctors and governments have [resoundingly] failed in protecting all of their people. When something fails...it's usually replaced!

Tristan Aitchison does a mighty fine [and artful] job in telling these stories, raising awareness is key to change. Truly, a beautiful, difficult and important work of film art.


Trailer...

The(ir) Blurb...

This feature documentary is a heartfelt exploration of the hopes, dreams, and everyday reality of Kenya's intersex and transgender community.

Cast & Characters

Michael Daviot as The Priest;
Awuor Onyango as Sidney's mother;
Charles Ouda as Sidney's father