TANGERINE

An electric, wildly subversive ride through the transgender culture of Los Angeles that's like nothing you've seen before.

It's Christmas Eve on the sun-blasted streets of Hollywood, and male-to-female prostitute Sin-Dee-Rella is fresh out of the joint and on a mission to track down her cheating pimp boyfriend. Together with her best friend and fellow trans sex worker Alexandra, they set out on a manic odyssey that takes them through the beautiful fringes of LA's subculture.

Shooting entirely on jacked-up iPhones, director Sean Baker (Starlet, MIFF 2013) captures the frenzied energy of his subjects and creates an almost otherworldly portrait of the city's hyper-saturated seediness. With hints of Harmony Korine, John Waters and the simmering tensions of Do the Right Thing, Tangerine is an underground Christmas movie for naughty kids everywhere.

"Writer-director Sean Baker's sun-scorched, street-level snapshot is a work of rueful, matter-of-fact insight and unapologetically wild humor." – Variety