DUSTIN

DIRECTED BY NAÏLA GUIGUET
FRANCE // 2020
20 MINS

In an abandoned warehouse, a crowd is dancing as one on 145 BPM techno music. Among them is Dustin, a young transgender and crew: Felix, Raya and Juan. As the night draws on, collective hysteria morphs into sweet melancholy.

Reflective Encounters

“On one level Naïla Guiguet’s Dustin is a revealing and bold examination of modern-day identity politics as our titular and transgender protagonist wistfully states “Let’s say it’s a good day when everyone calls me Miss.” With friends in tow – representing a rainbow of sexualities, nationalities and identities – Dustin becomes the focal point of a film that shows a generation both at ease with the fluidity of sexuality and gender yet knowing that the path throughout life is still a complex and difficult one.

Yet, as much as the film is a political statement, it’s also an evocation of the freedom of youth. There’s the pounding 145bpm music at the start (one of the rare times when a film does clubbing ‘right’) and the sense of hedonism as our crew of protagonists find pleasure in drugs, alcohol and the promise of sex.  Even in the cold light of a melancholic day, when adrenaline begins to turn to regret and recriminations, there’s always a sense that this generation has a world ready for the taking and they’ll be doing it on their own terms.”

— Laurence Boyce

Filmmaker Bio

 

Naïla Guiguet graduated in 2019 from the Femis’ Cinema School Scenario Department, where she made a student short film “Rough Skin”.

During her time at the Femis, she co-wrote with Arnaud Desplechin, Catherine Corsini and Thomas Salvador. Naïla Guiguet is also a DJ and a founding member of the Collective Possession.

This collective organises techno LGBTQI+ evenings. During one such evenings, she shoots “Dustin”, her first short film as a professional.