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Hello Stranger

Hello Stranger

AMÉLIE HARDY | CANADA | 2024 | 16 MIN | ENGLISH

AMÉLIE HARDY | CANADA | 2024 | 16 MIN | ENGLISH

VIRTUALShortCOMPETITIONMADE AU CANADAA Question of Gender

Synopsis

Between loads of laundry at the corner laundromat, Cooper shares the tumultuous story of her gender reassignment journey.

Filmmaker Bio

After completing her film studies at Montreal’s University, Amélie directs several short films. Her documentary work, in which humanity, aestheticism and an ingenious way of staging reality define her style. Amélie's projects (About memory and loss, Ordinary's Life Chronicles, Happy Life, Train Hopper) have earned several awards and have traveled around the world.

Director's Statement

I met Cooper 2 years ago while working on a documentary series project. Cooper was asked to answer the following question: What lie do you tell yourself most often? Her answer was: the lie I tell myself most often is that I'll never be considered a woman as long as I have a male voice. After this too-brief encounter, I was convinced that there was a powerful story to be shared through cinema. While I don't share the reality of being a trans woman, Cooper's quest for her own identity moves me. Her struggle is a universal one, since Cooper's story is one of self-acceptance. The film certainly emerges from my own reflections on gender in the broadest sense. What makes us women? Men? How can we uncover these social codes and expectations to prevent them from restraining us?

Producer

Sarah Mannering, Fanny Drew

Writer

Amélie Hardy, Cooper Josephine Holt

Cinematographer

Myrian Payette

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