Synopsis: “Boymom” is a short film project serving as proof-of-concept for a feature of the same name, following young mother, Rachel, on a trip with her husband, Paul, and son, Noah, to the seaside town she frequented during her childhood. Repressed memories are unearthed, and as a wife and mother, Rachel is forced to confront her past in the town, summers in which she assumed the nickname ‘Ray’ and socialized among the locals as a little boy, retreading the streets of her forgotten boyhood, while Noah begins stepping into his own.

Mission: The film, casting a non-binary actor in the role of Rachel, and non-binary child actors in the roles of Noah and Ray, hopes to expand opportunities and promote diverse roles for gender-diverse performers, aligning the stories of the characters with the performers' own. Exploring themes of queerness within motherhood and childhood, we open inter-generational dialogue about gender, biological determinism, expression, and love to audiences interested in both a family-centered story and a queer coming-of-age. With a diverse queer and female-led crew, the story is told by those who have lived in its world, deepening the themes of the story and connecting a fictionalized character to living, breathing examples of queer and female joy, creativity, expression, and existence.

Director Bio: Helen Sorokach (she/her) is a writer, director, and photographer whose photographic work has been shown in Matera, Italy as part of a UNESCO Heritage project relating to artistic representation of water, and whose screenwriting work, “The F.D.C.”, a feature-length screenplay (think Backdraft-meets-Mulholland-Drive) fictionalizing her experience working with the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Dept.  has been recognized by the New York Script Awards. The “Boymom” short (the first 16 pages of a feature of the same name, further exploring the story and concept) is her directorial debut.

After studying film and economics in Paris, France and Tokyo, Japan, Helen worked just outside of Washington, D.C. photographing, filming, and interviewing firefighters from various backgrounds, and at various stages of life. This environment provided a “boots-on-the-ground” (pun intended) experience onto which she could apply the learned theories of labor and the body, gender expression, performance and ritual in the every day, cinematic meaning, and applications of tradition. Looking at this workforce through the lens of a global liberal education gave rise to various interconnected conclusions, and even more questions. Helen’s work explores these questions, linking the highly theoretical with the “salt of the earth”, bringing intersectional understandings and esoteric stylings to an interpretation of the every day, the essential.

“It is my belief that an altered lens can bring about a differing perceived value to something; a person, a role, a locale, an experience. And in changing the perceived value, we can understand both value and the thing itself differently, define necessity differently, approach ourselves and our actions as agents within our economic systems and this can empower us.”