Director Jessica Barclay Lawton follows Zef Valdes, a 21-year-old genderqueer environmental practices student, in an intimate portrait of their life in Cairns, Australia. Lawton’s aim—as she describes—was to show “a slice of Australian culture that doesn’t make it into the brochures.”

In this stylized documentary, Lawton captures the various facets of Valdes's public and personal life through their gregarious conversations with customers at the topless bar they work at and tender profiles with partners and friends. 

“This film is an unfiltered snapshot of our desire for intimacy in its oscillating forms,” says the Melbourne-based director, whose film’s underlying message concerns love; the love of oneself and the love of complexity. “With cinematographer Alex Cardy, the three of us set out to create an amorphous space that captures the energy of identity.”

Through a collage of softly lit moments and memories, Valdes embraces their gender fluidity and empowers audiences with the freedom to self-define. “This was an opportunity to celebrate Zef’s strength and fragility,” says Lawton, “and acknowledge the complexity of the alienating spaces that permeate our landscape.”