Valentine
2022 · 10m · USA
Directed by Beck Kitsis, Chris McNabb
Genres: drama, LGBTQ+, romance
Tones: contemplative, melancholic, tender
On a Valentine's Day cabin getaway, a couple of eight years — Corey (nonbinary) and Mia (cisgender) — quietly navigate what Corey's emerging nonbinary identity means for their relationship and their future together.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
Nonbinary partner, cabin getaway, GLAAD consult, autobiographical co-directors, Tribeca selection — every box checked, every guardrail bolted. Sincere and exactly as surprising as that sentence suggests.
Autobiographical co-direction with Jacob Tobia in the lead and trans creatives throughout — Kitsis and McNabb take the radical step of letting nonbinary identity exist in a relationship film without crisis-as-spectacle. Quietly significant.
Jacob Tobia in the lead with autobiographical writer-directors and GLAAD consulting — that's authentic representation as production methodology, and the cabin-getaway intimacy is the right scale for an identity-in-flux relationship piece. Tribeca selection backs the craft.
Reviews
Explores the reality of realizing your gender identity while in a relationship with a uniquely hopeful outlook — specific enough to feel authentic, universal enough to resonate broadly.
A quietly powerful, sensitive and nuanced triumph — the vulnerability of both leads and the intimacy of the filmmaking make a compelling case for a feature expansion.
Festivals
- Tribeca Film Festival 2022
- Frameline San Francisco International LGBTQ+ Film Festival 2022
- Palm Springs International ShortFest 2022
- Outfest Los Angeles LGBTQ Film Festival 2022
- Inside Out 2SLGBTQ+ Film Festival 2022