Southern Comfort

Colour, 35mm
USA, 2000, 90 min
Section: Documentary Films in Competition

Synopsis

Robert is a friendly cowboy from Georgia with a sense of humour, there’s always a pipe sticking out of his mouth and he is suitably proud of his full beard and wide hat. The love of Robert’s life is Lola. Robert and Lola are transsexuals. Robert was born a girl, Lola a boy. Robert’s integration into his new life was so successful that he was even offered membership of the local Ku Klux Klan. Robert and Lola love each other but they don’t have much time left to enjoy their happiness. Robert has testicular cancer and over two dozen doctors refused to treat the transsexual for fear of their reputation. The film traces Robert in the last year of his life, from the moment he meets Lola who becomes his life partner and moral support. During the summer Robert’s parents come to visit their lost “daughter”. Finally, Robert is able to fulfil his greatest dream and takes part in the Southern Comfort conference, the most important meeting of transsexuals in North America. Shortly after the conference ended, Robert died at the age of fifty-two.

About the director

Kate Davis (b. 1960, Boston) studied painting and architecture at Harvard. She also produced graphic art works and attended film lectures given by Ross McElwee, and she worked on his documentary Sherman’s March to the Sea (1983) as assistant editor. The film Girltalk (1988), about three girls on the run, was her feature direction debut. She returned to editing with Jenny Livingston’s film Paris Is Burning. She made her debut as a documentarist in 1993 with the film A World Alive. She has completed a number of films, chiefly for television. Her work has won awards at various prestigious international festivals, including Oberhausen, Chicago and Leningrad. Select filmography: Requiem for the Planet (1994), Total Baby (1995), Hooked on a Dream (1996), Transgender Revolution (1998), Anti-Gay Hate Crimes (1999).