ABOUT THE FILM

LONG SYNOPSIS

Johnny loves his babysitter Melanie, and he’s heartbroken that today is her last day with him before she transitions into being a full-time doula. He discovers a YouTube video that teaches him about Free-Spirit Meditation, a practice by which you can send your spirit out of your body and into someone else’s body.

Johnny sends his spirit into Melanie. He can see through her eyes and operate her body from the inside out. Johnny-as-Melanie plays dress-up, uses Melanie’s credit card to buy an obscene amount of candy, and has an awkward run-in with a high school friend of Melanie’s.

From there, the pressures of pretending to be someone else stack up fast. Melanie’s boyfriend Tom comes over for a visit and they have to get rid of him. Then: Sharon and Priya, Melanie’s clients, call needing their doula — Melanie — to come over right away. But Johnny is trapped in Melanie’s body and doesn’t know how to get out.

So, Johnny-as-Melanie, a 9-year-old boy in a woman’s body, has to lead the home birth with only Melanie’s spirit to coach him. It’s a Cyrano-de-Bergerac style comedy of errors around an inflatable birth pool in a Park Slope apartment.

Writer & Director Joseph Sackett

Producer Joy Jorgensen

Editor Alan Wu

Cinematographer Laura Valladao

Production Designer Yu-Hsuan Chen

Costume Designer Lillian Prentice

Sound Eli Cohn

Music Ariel Marx

Cast Colby Minifie, Tre Ryder, Maria Dizzia, Whitmer Thomas, Jasmin Walker, Purva Bedi, Zoe Chao, Julian Cihi

FESTIVALS
2021: Outfest (World Premiere)

AVAILABLE TERRITORIES
The World

EXHIBITION FORMATS
DCP, Digital Download