SATURDAY CHURCH

By Damon CARDASIS

THESSALONIKI INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL - as FEST

Musical - Completed 2016

Saturday Church is a vibrant and colourful musical that follows Ulysses, a teenager from the Bronx struggling with gender identity and religion, who uses fantasy and music to escape his real life and figure out who he truly is.

    • Year of production
    • 2016
    • Genres
    • Musical, Drama
    • Countries
    • USA
    • Duration
    • 83 mn
    • Director(s)
    • Damon CARDASIS
    • Producer(s)
    • Rebecca MILLER (ROUND FILMS), Damon CARDASIS (ROUND FILMS), Mandy TAGGER BROCKEY (SPRING PICTURES), Adi EZRONI (SPRING PICTURES)
    • Synopsis
    • The Bronx, New York City. 14-year-old Ulysses has just lost his father. His mother Amara is left to raise her two young children with the only help of their strict and conservative aunt Rose. Ulysses is now expected to be the man of the house and shoulder his responsibilities.

      But the shy and effeminate Ulysses has another challenge to confront: he is not comfortable in his own skin. As his family pretends he is just going through a phase, Ulysses is also being bullied at school for his introversion and sensitivity. He finds an escape by creating a world of fantasy for himself, filled with glimpses of beauty, dance and music.

      Ulysses’ life changes when he comes into contact with a vibrant transgender youth community where people facing the same challenges stand by each other with the help of a Saturday Church program. He quickly has to take on a double life: satisfying his family’s desire to have him part of their religious community while digging deeper into his true identity. But his aunt is growing more and more suspicious, and the young man will soon be forced to reveal the truth about himself.

      Saturday Church is a colorful and celebratory musical journey into the world of a boy struggling to find his own identity.