Port Authority
Director: Danielle Lessovitz Run Time: 101 min. Rating: R Release Year: 2021
Starring: Fionn Whitehead, Leyna Bloom, Louisa Krause, McCaul Lombardi
Country: United States, France
Language: English
Presented in our Virtual Screening Room.
“A gritty, naturalistic New York City love story that turns the white male perspective into the outsider”
—Eric Kohn for IndieWire
About the film:
World Premiere in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes.
On the steps outside New York City’s dizzying central bus station, Port Authority, a girl named Wye vogues with her siblings. Paul, a young drifter, watches her, transfixed by her beauty. After he seeks her out, an intense love soon blossoms. Wye introduces him to the ballroom community, an underground LGBTQ subculture, to her house, a self-selected chosen family. But when Paul realizes Wye is trans, he is forced to confront his feelings for her and the social forces that seek to rupture their bond.
About the filmmaker:
New York City-based writer and director Danielle Lessovitz studied Documentary Film at Northwestern University and earned her Master’s Degree in Film Production at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Her short films have screened at festivals around the world, and her first feature writing endeavor, Mobile Homes, which she co wrote with Vladimir de Fontenay, premiered in Directors’ Fortnight section at Cannes in 2017.
For her directorial debut Port Authority, Lessovitz received grants from the Torino Film Lab, France’s CNC Cinema du Monde and New York Council of the Arts. Martin Scorsese Executive Produced under his Sikelia Productions banner. Read more from Lessovitz on authentic storytelling in the first film starring a trans woman of color to premiere at Cannes.
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