"Claude" is a window into the life of Her, a trans woman struggling with connection. We meet Her as she prepares for a date, addressing an unseen figure in her room as she gets ready. When she leaves, it's revealed that she's been speaking to her stuffed rabbit Claude, the constant in her life and the one who sees her completely and in her most vulnerable moments. What ensues is a mix of the mundane and the turbulent, the pieces of her life that can only be seen by Claude in her bedroom. From emotional hangovers and crippling isolation to tender video calls with her mother who lives far away. Enter boyish Him, presumably a lover from Her past. As he slips back easily into Her life, watching their seemingly comfortable rapport, Claude witnesses his owner try to balance life, pleasure, and even violence. Never seeing anyone’s face besides Claude’s unanimated one, the audience is invited to really lean in and pay attention to a woman and a story that often goes untold.

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Finola Hughes graduated from the Arts Educational School in London in 1979. From the age of 11 she had already been performing in both Television and on stage. After being part of the original cast of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats and Song & Dance she moved to the US to co-star in Sylvestor Stallone’s Stayin’ Alive with John Travolta. She joined the soap General Hospital in 1985, earning an Emmy in 1991, and has garnered many nominations. She has returned to the soap over the years, and worked in numerous TV shows and movies. Her work in TV includes: Charmed, Pacific Palisades, Blossom. Her movies include Like Crazy which won Sundance 2011. In 2013 she directed her first full length film The Bet. The low budget film was successfully entered in festivals around the country, including FLIFF and Dances with Films, and won LAFEMME film festival for best feature. It received distribution. She has since directed a couple of shorts and an episode of Good Trouble for FreeForm in 2019. She is an adjunct professor at USC School of Dramatic Art.