Mrs McCutcheon.
John Sheedy’s Mrs McCutcheon and Claire Randall’s Wolfe are headed to International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, where they will compete in the children and youth competition.
Wolfe won the Crystal Bear for Best Short Film in the Generation 14Plus program at the Berlin International Film Festival earlier this year. The documentary explores a young man’s journey through adolescence with undiagnosed schizophrenia. Randall, the director-producer, made the film with fellow Griffith Film School students Shannen Tunnicliffe, producer, and Lachlan Morton, cinematographer and animator.
Oberhausen marks Mrs McCutcheon’s world premiere. Directed and conceived by Sheedy, the film is the theatre veteran’s first foray into filmmaking, and was written by Ben Young, whose debut feature Hounds of Love won acclaim in Venice last year.
Mrs McCutcheon follows 10-year-old Tom (Alec Golinger) on a journey of self-discovery. Having always felt he was born in the wrong body, he chooses the name Mrs McCutcheon over his birth name, and prefers dresses to pants. Now at his third school, he struggles to find acceptance among peers, except for Trevor (Wesley Patten), who also experiences prejudice due to his Aboriginal heritage.
The short, made with the aim to give voice to trans and gender-diverse children, also stars Nadine Garner, Virginia Gay, Neil Pigot and Shareena Clanton.
“This film is an offer of support to these children, their family and friends and to attempt to educate the world by throwing a pulsing light on the topic and to celebrate its positives and vulnerabilities with loving empathy. This little film has big ambitions to make a significant impact on the lives of those who feel unheard,” said Sheedy.
Mrs McCutcheon is produced by Andre Lima and Jenny Vila, with cinematography by Sky Davies and music by Iain Grandage.