Wrong Bathroom
8.40 TRT/ Mini-DV stereo Sound, Dec, 2005.
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SYNOPSIS:
Blending humor with formal interviews Wrong Bathroom exposes the battle for entry into gender specific restroom spaces for those who don’t fit into the cookie-cutter silhouettes outside the door.
Ever thought you were in the wrong bathroom? You know, when the person exiting the stall before you creates confusion as to which bathroom you entered. Maybe she was too tall, or he was too skinny, causing you to question the person's gender and your choice in bathrooms.
Imagine a life, where, on a daily basis, you must prove you are in the 'right' bathroom. By going where few videos have gone before, Wrong Bathroom blows the stink out of the stall on this civil rights issue. Public restrooms historically have been a place of discrimination and harassment. From the segregated bathrooms of the South to the fight for women's restrooms in the workplace, access to public restrooms has long been a civil rights issue.
For lots of people, including those who define as gender-queer, transgender, transsexual, and androgynous, public restroom access is a daily struggle, as the presence of gender-neutral restrooms rarely exists. In my research for this project, more than 90% of responses noted fear before going into gender-assigned restroom spaces. Others made decisions on their social activities based on how easily they would find restroom access, and, without access, would prefer to just stay home.
Using humor, interviews with local celebrities Lynn Breedlove, Melissa Lawton, and Bryan Burgess, and reenactments of bathroom harassment, Wrong Bathroom, is a slick documentary that shows how bathrooms have long been a place of exclusion.
GRANTS & AWARDS:
Finalist, Planetout Short Films Awards, 2007
Best of Bernal, Outdoor Cinema Contest, 2006
Best Local Voice, San Francisco International Women’s Film Festival, 2006.
DVD Completion Funds, Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, 2006
Creating Queer Community Grant, Queer Cultural Center, 2005
CREW:
Charlie Kuttner, Christa Irwin, Melissa Lawton, Susan Ali, Sumiko Kawai, Chris Villareal
CAST:
Melissa Lawton, Lynn Breedlove, Helene Vosters, Bryan Burgess, Samantha Johnson, Margaret Hasley, Nicole Mazar, Paul Oja