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presented by the Los Angeles Times

Red Without Blue

Red Without Blue

By Brooke Sebold, Benita Sills, Todd Sills

United States 77 minutes 2007 English
Genres
Keywords
Awards
  • Alternative Spirit Award (2nd Place) - 2007 Rhode Island International Film Festival (Newport, United States)
  • Audience Award - Best Documentary Feature (Winner) - 2007 Slamdance Film Festival (Park City, United States)
  • Audience Award - Best Documentary Feature (Winner) - 2007 Inside Out: Toronto Lesbian and Gay Film and Video Festival (Toronto, Canada)
  • Best Documentary Feature (1st Place) - 2007 Athens International Film Festival (Athens, Greece)
  • Festival Directors Award (Winner) - 2007 Silverlake Film Festival (Los Angeles, United States)
  • Jury Award (Finalist) - 2007 Ashland Independent Film Festival (Ashland, United States)
Festivals
  • Ashland Independent Film Festival 2007 (Ashland, United States)
  • Athens International Film and Video Festival 2007 (Athens, Ohio)
  • Barcelona International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival 2007 (Barcelona, Spain)
  • Dublin Lesbian and Gay Film Festival 2007 (Dublin, Ireland)
  • Hamburg Lesbian & Gay Film Festival 2007 (Hamburg, Germany)
  • Inside Out: Toronto Lesbian and Gay Film and Video Festival 2007 (Toronto, Canada)
  • Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival 2007 (Miami, United States)
  • Rhode Island International Film Festival 2007 (Newport, United States)
  • San Francisco Gay and Lesbian Film Festival 2007 (San Francisco, USA)
  • Silverlake Film Festival 2007 (Los Angeles, United States)

Synopsis

"Although the Farleys' trials have the makings of a soap opera envisioned by David Cronenberg, there's a quiet emotional hush to "Red Without Blue" that keeps tabloid prurience at bay and finds mystery and painful beauty in the unshakeable bonds of family."--Robert Abele, LA Times

Red Without Blue is an artistic and groundbreaking portrayal of gender,identity, and the unswerving bond of twinship despite transformation. An honest portrayal of a family in turmoil, RWB follows a pair of identical twins as one transitions from male to female. Captured over a period of three years, the film documents the twins and their parents, examining the Farley's struggle to redefine their family. The twins' early lives were quintessentially all-American: picture-perfect holidays, supportive parents who cheered them on every step of the way. By the time they were 14, their parents had divorced, they had come out as gay, and a joint suicide attempt precipitated a forced separation of Mark and Alex for two and half years.

Through candid and extensive interviews with the twins and their family, Red Without Blue recounts these troubled times, interweaving the twins' difficult past with their efforts to find themselves in the present. The film follows the painful steps of Clair's transition, including electrolysis and the difficult decision to proceed with bottom surgery.

Through its portrayal of these articulate and independent twins, each haunted by the painful experiences of their adolescence, the film questions normative standards of gender and identity as Mark and Clair reassert their indescribable bond as identical twins.

Through the power of the Farleys' voices, we hear the story of a family's redemption from a dark past, and ultimately, its revival to the present.

"Revealing, visually layered, and completely engaging, it's also a heart-wrenching emotional ride...After decades of shock filmmaking, only honesty like this can still startle us."--Regina Marler, The Advocate

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