Author
Ben Felten (51), who as a teenager was diagnosed with a degenerative eye disease that left him completely blind in his mid-thirties. Despite his visual impairment, he wants to fulfill his childhood dream: top-level motorcycle racing.
Director
Ben Felten (51), who as a teenager was diagnosed with a degenerative eye disease that left him completely blind in his mid-thirties. Despite his visual impairment, he wants to fulfill his childhood dream: top-level motorcycle racing.
Writer
This documentary tells the story of great love, bitter disappointments and self-doubts - but most of all of courage. The courage to take risks, try something new and be yourself - no matter what age. The film dives deeply into the exceptional and heart-warming stories of a group of transsexuals and drag queens in their sixties and seventies, who summon up their bravery to take to the stage one last time. For two years they have been touring in five continents, basking in the success of a spectacular show called "Gardenia", directed by Alain Platel and Frank Van Laecke. Now, as the show comes to a close, the glamorous aging performers must leave the limelight and go home to the quiet lives they left behind.
Director
Jon Cory, a body art performer from New York, stops at nothing when preparing for his bare-all performances. "Gender terrorism" is what he calls his sexually ambivalent, explicit performances. He aims to ambush the audience: the quicker you hit them, the friendly-sounding Cory explains, the more their brains get overstimulated and go into shock. The audience always wants more: spitting and pretending to urinate on the audience just draws more applause. Since deciding to have breast implants to boost his image as a gender terrorist, Jon has had to get used to a new identity. His mother has no problem with his new breasts, but he himself is troubled by the question of whether to call himself Rose or Jon. Documentary filmmaker Eva Küpper follows him both before and after the operation, throughout his painstaking preparation for his performances, and during the performances themselves, capturing him as he seeks out the limits of intimacy.
