Transparent actor Mel Shimkovitz talks about Jo Cool, a new film she stars in co-directed with Brazilian filmmaker Natalia Leite:

“Jo Cool was written to accompany an already existing punch line uttered mindlessly by a friend: “Harry Pottery Barn.” Stylistically, we wanted to make a surreal-quantum-slapstick-tech-noir with mainstream comedic appeal—a sadistic buddy comedy where the “buddy” is a higher quality version of oneself manifested via Pinterest and a time space continuum blunder known as the Quantum Zeno Effect. 

“This is a queer film, and not just because of Jo’s haircut. We endeavored to present the inner world of a non-gender-conforming character grappling with the tropes of ‘coolness.’ We created a visual story to frame the age-old question: what is cool? Can you buy it? Can you curate it as an avatar? Is this film cool? Are we making queer look cool enough that the masses will want to co-opt it?”