Director Jessica Barclay Lawton follows Zef Valdes, a 21-year-old genderqueer environmental practices student, in an intimate portrait of her life in Cairns, Australia. Lawton’s aim—as she describes—was to show “a slice of Australian culture that doesn’t make it into the brochures.”
Category
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Short filmTranscript
00:00What are you going to give me? What did you give me last time?
00:0269! There you go!
00:30You went to TV, didn't you? No, I went to Smithfield.
00:56Wooo! Close call there, man. It was alright. Yeah.
01:00Yeah, Smithfield and Pat isn't as good.
01:02Like, it's okay. You kind of go. Everyone's high. No one gives a shit. It's great.
01:07Do you get bullied? No. Everyone's way too high that you are.
01:10Yeah. I never ever got bullied as a kid.
01:13I looked like a boy. I literally picked my nose in front of people, like, and I never got picked on.
01:19Yeah. Yeah, it was great. That's awesome.
01:21Like, even, like, I didn't know I was actually gay till 16 and a half.
01:26Because I just didn't like people till that time.
01:29Yeah. But then, when I found out, it was like, I didn't even have to come out.
01:34Like, everyone has a coming out story. And I never did.
01:38Like, when I told my parents, my gran was like, yeah, sorry, you still have to get a job.
01:43I mean, every relationship's been so different for me. But they've all been crazy bitches now.
01:59Some of them. Yeah. I don't know. I wouldn't call my first love. Like, she was just, I don't know. It was weird.
02:09I think it was mostly I dated her because I wanted people to know I was gay.
02:15Okay. I wanted to have a girlfriend so the others saw that I was gay. You know?
02:20Okay. Yeah.
02:22She actually dated me when I was identifying as a girl. And like, I think the first time I had sex was on my 17th birthday.
02:31Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And then, she dated me when I was non-binary. So that was like a, like, first we were in a lesbian relationship.
02:40And then the second time, I was going by male pronouns. So we were basically in a straight relationship.
02:47All right. Here we are.
03:10Is that 7 or 87?
03:1887!
03:1987!
03:2087!
03:2187!
03:22So many people say they thought I was a dude, like Zen thought I was a dude for two weeks.
03:49I didn't think you were a dude.
03:51I thought you looked funky.
03:53It was like when you messaged me it was like aww.
03:55I hate you and Victoria though.
03:57That's a bit funny.
03:59Like, fucking and being mates and like introduce me to everyone.
04:03I think we only did it once though.
04:05Yeah.
04:11Sexuality is such an interesting thing, I reckon.
04:14I've been through like everything I could be.
04:17Yeah, honestly.
04:19Yeah.
04:20And then like, I don't know.
04:22I feel like there are so many things that like humans do and say like from when they were
04:27like younger that they just don't talk about.
04:28Like, did you used to do this?
04:30And they're like yeah.
04:32Yeah.
04:33There's so many like little things that you don't even realise and you look back on and you're
04:37just like.
04:38Yeah.
04:39Like I was so young I didn't even realise why I like the hoes so much.
04:43Yes.
04:44I just like out in the front yard naked with the hoes like a toddler.
04:49You're so fucking that.
04:51I'll be the one.
04:52I'm so forwarding to being here.
04:54Yeah.
04:55Yeah.
04:56Yeah.
04:57I know.
04:58I know.
04:59I know.
05:00Yeah.