Ayo Streaming Media

It was clear from the outset that there was so much heart behind Pariah, a seminal work from Emmy Award-winning, Oscar-nominated writer/director Dee Rees. Pariah initially hit the festival circuit as a short film, screening and gaining applause from Toronto International Film Festival and Tribeca Film Festival amongst others. Rees spent two years subsequent workshopping the semi-autobiographical feature film at Sundance’s Screenwriters Lab. The feature premiered at Sundance in 2011. Years in the making, you gotta love the process!

Pariah’s story captures the essence of what it means to love ourselves and to embrace those that love us for who we really are, and shares with audiences the beauty, liberation and joy that can only be found when we allow ourselves to live out our truths.

Now more than ever “diversity” and “inclusivity” are welcome and celebrated terms across all forms of media, yet mainstream film leaves much to be desired in that it hasn’t quite figured out where representation fits in for those who do not identify with binary gender.

Anahita Ghazvinizadeh’s They (2017) takes a bold step forward in its contribution to representation of non-binary and gender non-conforming people. The intimate and delicately-crafted narrative centers around the very real lived experience a young character, J, who is in the midst of exploring their gender identity.

#2017