Prescient and timely, given the conversations we’re having culturally about sexual identity, trans identity, and more, “Mutt” is a Sundance prize winner about a trans guy bustling through life in New York City.
“Mutt” premiered earlier this year at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, where star Lío Mehiel won the U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Acting— the first trans actor in history to win the honor. “Mutt” also won the Generation 14plus—Best Film award at the Berlin International Film Festival and was selected for New Directors/New Films Closing Night.
READ MORE: ‘Mutt’ Review: 24 Stressful Hours In The Day Of A Trans Man [Sundance]
“Mutt” stars Lío Mehiel, Cole Doman, MiMi Ryder, and Alejandro Go. “Mutt” is the directorial debut of Vuk Lunglov-Koltz, and tenderness, authenticity, and humanity seem to be its most significant goals. “When the film focuses on [its lead characters]?” our review from Sundance wrote. “That’s something genuinely special. And a reason to put Lungulov-Klotz on your filmmakers-to-watch list.”
Here’s the official synopsis:
Feña, a young trans guy bustling through life in New York City, is afflicted with an incessantly challenging day that resurrects ghosts from his past. Laundromats, subway turnstiles, and airport transfers are the hectic background to this emotional drama that overlaps past, present, and future. Settling the disharmony of transitional upheaval in relationships familial, romantic, and platonic is Feña’s task at hand, and his resulting juggling act is equal parts skillful, fumbling, and honest. In negotiating his obliqueness, the poignant moments he finds between himself and others – as the distance between them closes – are warm, true, and touching.
“Mutt” opens at Film Forum on Friday, August 18, in New York via Strand Releasing. Watch the new trailer below.
