Thiessa Woinbackk, Guta Stresser, Rômulo Braga
In writer/director Cássio Pereira dos Santos’s multi award-winning drama, a 17-year-old transgender girl moves to the Brazilian countryside with her mother to start afresh.
To avoid being bullied in her new school, Valentina (Thiessa Woinbackk) hopes to enrol with her new name and keep her gender history secret. She likes it there, finding kindred spirits in new friends Júlio (Ronaldo Bonafro) and Amanda (Letícia Franco). But she and her mother Márcia (Guta Stresser) run into difficulties when the school requests a second parental signature to confirm her name; and as the community keeps finding new ways to block her happiness, Valentina faces a choice as to how her life will be lived.
The feature debut of both Pereira dos Santos and its star, Brazilian trans actress and YouTuber Thiessa Woinbackk, and a labour of love for its LGBTQ filmmaking team, Valentina is a hard-hitting, but warm and inspiring trans coming-of-age story that explores not only the marginalisation and social stigma often faced by trans youth, but also the joys of authentic gender expression and solidarity.
