Aurora Brachman’s documentary short Joychild shares a story of an 8-year-old who comes out as transgender. In this honest portrait of growing up gender-expansive, filmmaker Aurora Brachman beautifully captures the hesitancy, fear, and relief at revealing one’s innermost thoughts, as well as the unconditional love of a mother. This LGBTQI+ film has screened at a variety of prestigious film festivals such as 2020 Outfest, 2020 NFFTY where it won an Audience Award & received a Best Documentary Honorable Mention, and 2021 New York International Children’s Film Festival where it was judged by Sofia Coppola and Mark Osborne (Kung Fu Panda, The Little Prince), receiving a Jury Special Mention. Joychild will be screening at this year’s Oscar-qualifying Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival and it will also be released by The New Yorker as part of their Documentary Video Series in June.
Synopsis: A young child tells their mother, “I’m not a girl”, for the first time.
The Official Trailer for JOYCHILD directed by Aurora Brachman
Director/Producer/Editor/Cinematographer Aurora Brachman is drawn to stories about intimacy and relationships between families and communities. Her most recent film, Club Quarantine, about a virtual queer dance party, premiered on the New York Times Op-Docs. She is a recent graduate of the MFA program in Documentary Film at Stanford University and a 2020 Sundance Ignite Fellow. She is also the recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship in Filmmaking to the Pacific Island nation of Kiribati. Her work has screened at numerous festivals including Sundance, True/False, and Hot Docs. Aurora primarily makes work about the experiences of Black, brown, and Queer people and is committed to collaborative and ethical storytelling.
Sound and Production assistant Sydney Bowie Linden is also a documentary director, cinematographer, and Fulbright Scholar. Her most recent short The Space Between made its debut as part of the New Yorker Documentary Video Series.
The music in this short film is composed by Composer Elijah Lee.
Joychild will be screening at Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival from April 29th – May 2nd, Seattle Transgender Film Festival from May 6th – May 9th, Milwaukee International Film Festival from May 6th – May 20th, SFDocFest from May 31-June 15, and Frameline: the San Francisco International LGBTQ+ Film Festival from June 10th – June 27th. This film will also be released by The New Yorker as part of their Documentary Video Series in June and will be available to watch on their website.
Tell us what you think of Joychild by Aurora Brachman. What are you thinking? What more information do you need? Do you have any suggestions? Or did this help you? Let’s have your comments below and/or on Facebook or Instagram! Or join me on Twitter.
Follow Aurora Brachman on Social Media
Website
LinkedIn
Instagram
Vimeo
MORE STORIES FOR YOU
In Conversation with Michael Oblowitz Director of Confidential Informant
Confidential Informant stars Mel Gibson, Dominic Purcell, and Kate Bosworth
