During my artist residency in Brighton, the unofficial “gay capital” of the UK, a lot of questions were on my mind – what does it mean to talk about hate crime here? How does oneself play an unfamiliar role? To explore these questions, I put up an open audition and invited the gender-queer community to play the important and traumatised character of Brandon in “Boyz Don’t Cry”.

The movie is based on the story of Brandon Teena, who adopts a masculine identity and attempts to find his true self and love in Nebraska. Unfortunately, he becomes the victim of a hate crime. This film was premiered in 1999. It is one of the classic queer movies that initiated the discussion of the trans identity.

我在布萊頓參與藝術家駐留計劃，布萊頓被外界譽為英國的同志首都。當時我有幾個問題──當地人如何探討歧視、仇恨議題？人如何扮演不熟悉的角色？我於是舉行了一場試鏡活動，邀請酷兒群體扮演電影《男孩別哭》中布蘭登一角，飾演重要且受傷的角色。

電影《男孩別哭》是按照布蘭登·蒂納的真實故事改編。蒂納稱自己為男生，尋找真我，在內布拉斯加州追求他的愛情。不幸的是，他受到嚴重的歧視及傷害。《男孩別哭》於1999年上映，成為經典的酷兒電影，電影讓大眾開始討論跨性別者身份。