Starring: Ricardo DarÃn, German Palacios, Jean Pierre Reguerraz, Ines Efron, Martin Piroyanski Directed by: Lucia Puenzo Binding: DVD Published: 2008-10-14
For just about everybody, adolescence means having to confront a number of choices and life decisions, but rarely any as monumental as the one facing 15 year-old Alex (Ines Efron,) who was born an intersex child (with both male and female genitalia). As Alex begins to explore her sexuality, her mother invites friends from Buenos Aires to come for a visit at their house on the gorgeous Uruguayan shore, along with their 16-year-old son Álvaro (Martin Piroyanski.) Alex is immediately attracted to the young man, which adds yet another level of complexity to her personal search for identity, and forces both families to face their worst fears. WINNER Critics Week Grand Prize & Golden Rail Award, Cannes Film Festival WINNER Golden Athena Award for Best Fillm, Athens Int l Film Festival WINNER New Director s Award, Edinburgh Int l Film Festival WINNER Association of Quebec s Cinema Critics Prizem, Festival Nouveau Cinema Montreal WINNER Three Castle Awards, Castellinaria Int l Youth Film Festival WINNER Youth Council Award, Valladolid Int l Film Festival WINNER Best Feature Film, Festival de Cinéma des 3 Amériques WINNER Quebec Film Critics Award, Montreal Festival of New Cinema WINNER Pink Peach LGBT Award, Atlanta Film Festival WINNER Audience Award for Best Feature Film, Frameline Film Festival WINNER Audience Award for Best Feature Film, Out Film Connecticut WINNER Best Feature, Reel Pride Film Festival WINNER Grand Jury Award for Outstanding International Dramatic Feature, Outfest Film Festival WINNER Best Screenplay, Providence Latino Film Festival WINNER Audience Award for Best Feature Film, Inside Out, Ottawa LGBT Film Festival WINNER Audience Award for Best Foreign Film, Pittsburgh Int l Lesbian and Gay Film Festival OFFICIAL SELECTION Argentina s entry for Best Foreign Film at the 2008 Academy Awards OFFICIAL SELECTION Best Film in Spanish at the Spanish Goya Awards (Spanish Oscars) OFFICIAL SELECTION Toronto Int l Film Festival, Munich Int l Film Festival, Reykjavik Int l Film Festival, Jerusalem Int l Film Festival, Cairo Int l Film Festival, Bangkok Int l Film Festival, Hong Kong Gay & Lesbian Int l Film Festival, Auteur Int l Film Festival (Belgrade), Bratislava Int l Film Festival, Black Nights Int l Film Festival (Tallinn), Tokyo Latin Film Festival, Ljubljana Int l Film Festival, Tapei Golden Horse Int l Film Festival, Cairo Int l Film Festival; Kerala Int l Film Festival, Palm Springs Film Festival,Santa Barbara Int l Film Festival, Portland Int l Film Festival, Miami Int l Film Festival, New Directors/New Films Festival
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A Life Determining Conflict: Who Am I?:
The chromosomal abnormality of XXY has been labeled as Klinefelter's Syndrome, hermaphroditism, and Intersex. The 'conception' defect results in a child with both male and female organs and when detected at birth usually results in a decision between physicians and parents to surgically alter the child to be one or the other phenotypic assignments - male or female. In this remarkably sensitive film based on a short story 'Cinismo' by Sergio Bizzio and adapted for the screen by writer/director Lucía... more info
'Why do I have to choose?':
15 year old Alex (Inés Efron) was born intersex; she resembles a female (and takes hormones to enhance this), but has male genitals. As she has grown older, her parents moved her from her home in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to an isolated fishing village on the coast of Uruguay, to avoid the questions of friends and relatives. Her mother is desperate for her to become wholly female, and invites a plastic surgeon (along with his wife and son) to their village to discuss surgical options. The son, Alvaro... more info
Making choices when there is no choice:
Being adolescent is hard enough. This film touches up on much more complex issues. What can parents do to help their child choose his/her sex when that child has both? When a person is born with both sexual organs, most parents decide the sex of the child shortly after birth. But Alex's parents felt that is should be their child who should decide their sex. Alex is raised as a girl. But puberty is bringing some hard decision for Alex, her friends and family. Shall Alex remain a girl and have an operation to... more info
Making a Choice--An Amazing Film:
"XXY" Making a Choice--An Amazing Film Amos Lassen If you have a chance to see "XXY", make sure you grab it. It is one of the amazing films I have ever seen and it will make you think. For almost all of us adolescence is a difficult time. We have to face decisions and make choices but I'll bet that none of us have had to make the decision that Alex (Ines Efron) was faced with. Alex was born as what is known as an intersex child which means that he/she was born with both male and female sexual... more info
