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IDFA 2013

Consider

Panu Saeng-Xuto
Thailand
2013
20 min
European Premiere
Festival history
The teenaged Tay is a ladyboy, or "kathoey," as members of this relatively well-tolerated transgender group are called in Thailand. These are people who take on a traditional female role, and some describe them as a third sex. The documentary starts with Tay looking out over the twilit city. Offscreen, the filmmaker asks him a question: “Do you think you made a mistake that you are now in the media?” Tay answers, “I kind of do.” The voice then asks, “If you could go back in time, what would you have changed or fixed?”  Tay replies, “I would not try to kill myself again.” Interviews with sympathetic fellow students and a teacher who is also a kathoey demonstrate the level of acceptance of his orientation at his Christian school Saint Joseph Mueang-Ake. This becomes most triumphantly clear when Tay appears at a school Christmas party in a beautiful red dress. But as his tearful mother explains, a single intolerant and violent teacher drove him to attempt suicide. Elsewhere in the film, we see Tay going about his daily life, traveling to and from school, and silently touching up his makeup in front of the mirror.
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Screening copy
    On-air Production
    On-air Production