PONYBOI (2024)
River Gallo and Indya Moore spar over the differences and similarities of the trans and intersex experience in the neo-noir intersex coming of age story, PONYBOI.
Today’s post was selected/written by QCA guest writer Adam Eli (@adameli on Instagram).
PONYBOI
2024. USA.
Director: Esteban Arango
Screenplay: River Gallo
Starring: River Gallo, Dylan O'Brien, Murray Bartlett, Victoria Pedretti and Indya Moore
Unfolding over the course of Valentine’s Day in New Jersey, a young intersex sex worker named Ponyboi (played by River Gallo who also wrote and produced the film) must run from the mob after a drug deal goes sideways. With the mob closing in and time running out, Ponyboi risks everything for one last chance at getting their life-affirming hormones before fleeing town. In this pivotal scene, Ponyboi comes face-to-face with Charlie — a formidable trans cabaret owner who supplies hormones to her community and also happens to be his former rival. Tensions simmer and histories collide. Just when it seems like the past might sabotage the present, Charlie offers something that nobody else in the film has: grace. What follows is arguably the film’s most powerful scene — a moment that shifts everything.
“I can confidently say this is the first time a scene [where] an intersex person — and maybe trans-questioning person — and a trans woman are talking to each other about the differences and similarities of their experience. This is the first time that’s ever happened in cinema,” said Gallo at the films 2024 premier at The Sundance Film Festival.
PONYBOI is now available for rent on @gathr using this link: https://gathr.com/vod/a4456473/ponyboi
The film is also showing in New York at LOOK Dine-In Cinemas W57 on 7/22 and 7/23