NORTH CAROLINA PREMIERE!

During the summer of 1986, ten year-old Tate Millikin is uprooted and forced to move to the suburbs of Kansas City. When his transphobic father discovers that their next-door neighbor is a trans woman named Gossamer, he forbids Tate to even say hello to her. As Tate's parents' marriage unravels, Tate defies his father’s orders and forms a powerful bond with Gossamer and her father, Edward, a retired English professor.

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Director Biography - Lisa Donato

Lisa Donato is an award-winning filmmaker and her work is dedicated to people and communities relegated to the margins. Her newest feature-length film, Gossamer Folds, is about a 10-yr-old boy with an unhappy home life who strikes up an unexpected friendship with a trans woman who lives next door. The film world-premiered at the highly-acclaimed Bentonville Festival and is currently touring the (virtual) film festival circuit worldwide. She co-wrote the feature film, Signature Move, which world-premiered at SXSW (2017), screened at over 150 festivals worldwide, and can currently be found on Amazon Prime. She directed a telly-winning DocuSeries for AOL about drag culture in the US called Behind The Drag which showcases the real lives of American drag queens. She's earned a passionate following by telling stories that don't shy from the unique struggles of women, queer and straight, but focus on the power, resilience, and love they demonstrate in the face of them.

Filmmaker's note

Gossamer Folds is unique and refreshing in many ways. The film depicts a healthy relationship between a trans adult and a child, which unfortunately, is rare in media. It's a film about the unlikely friendship between two sets of neighbors who are culturally taught to hate each other: a 10-yr-old white boy and a 25-yr-old black trans woman. This hatred is fueled by the young boy's transphobic father when he forbids his son, Tate, to engage with their next-door neighbor, Gossamer, a trans woman. Behind his father's back, Tate forms a friendship with Gossamer and sees beyond the abhorrent discrimination he's been taught.

Gossamer Folds shows how hatred is a learned experience and how we ultimately have the choice to be open-hearted and kind. Sometimes our biological families aren't the ones who foster and yield the best versions of ourselves and that's okay. One of the greatest assets of the queer community is the idea and practice of choosing our families. Ultimately, this film is about chosen family, unassuming neighbors, and the beautiful and unlikely bonds that can be found next door.