Animated film portrays transgender coming of age story
Published 1:30 am Tuesday, January 31, 2017
The Vashon Film Society will show “Torrey Pines,” an award-winning autobiographical feature film from stop-motion animator Clyde Petersen at 8:30 p.m. Thursday and 4 p.m. Friday at the Vashon Theatre.
The film portrays Petersen’s life as a queer punk coming of age in Southern California in the early 1990s, raised by a schizophrenic single mother. It was the Bush-Clinton era and the burgeoning technology of computers but not yet cell phones. Against this backdrop, 12-year-old Petersen’s troubled mom takes him on a cross-country adventure. In brightly colored, handmade animation, the film documents the road trip, Petersen’s experience of being misgendered and his mother’s schizophrenic visions.
In a Huffington Post review, Wes Hurley wrote, “When I saw Torrey Pines, I left giddy and overjoyed, reminded of how truly magical, pure and touching cinema can be.”
Petersen is a Seattle based film and music artist, and a member of the transgender and queer communities. His punk band, “Your Heart Breaks,” has toured worldwide, and his work has been featured at gay and lesbian film festivals from Seattle to London.
Tickets, sold at the door, are $9 for adults, $8 for youth/senior/military for Thursday’s show. For the Friday matinee, all seats are $7.
