Pier Kids
Presented in Partnership with Pleasure Style Attitude, The Montrose Center, and Station Museum of Contemporary Art
with Director Elegance Bratton and Producer Chester Algernal
Presented in Partnership with Pleasure Style Attitude, The Montrose Center, and Station Museum of Contemporary Art. Followed by a pre-recorded Q&A with Director Elegance Bratton and Producer Chester Algernal, moderated by Tony Nguyen.
Pier Kids interrogates the meaning of community within at risk LGBT youth of color and also the larger gay community. Casper, a trans attracted young black man, is left vulnerable in his pursuit for true love while navigating homelessness. Desean is at a critical point -- he is navigating a reality where committing a crime or getting HIV is might be the best alternative to escape homelessness. Krystal utilizes the ballroom scene as a way to survive but is forced to go back to her blood family for support when her gay family proves unable to help her. Face to face, Krystal and her birth mother realize that their mutual love of gospel is the only thing they can agree on when it comes to Krystal’s identity. The film wants to put the viewer in the skin of the pier kids because it hopes to show what happens to gay youth when they are kicked out. The film follows these youth over the course of five years to understand what it means to be black and queer 50 years after Stonewall.
This film can be viewed across the US and its territories.
| Country, Year | United States, 2019 |
|---|---|
| Director | Elegance Bratton |
| Writer | Elegance Bratton |
| Cast | Krystal Dixon, DeSean Irby, Krystal LaBeija, Jusheem Thorne |
| Producer | Chester Algernal, Sabaah Folayan, Terence Nance |
| Language | English |
| Runtime | 84 MINS, SECS |
| Genre | Documentary |
| Subject | Urbana |
| Event Type | Film |
Special Guests
Elegance Bratton
Elegance was thrown out of his mother’s home at the age of 16 in New Jersey for being gay. He spent the next 10 years homeless seeking refuge on Christopher Street and the New Jersey, Philadelphia metro areas. After ten years spent homeless, he joined the U.S. Marine Corps where he learned how to make films. Elegance’s award-winning short films have played in almost 150 film festivals world wide including Sundance, Outfest, and the American Black Film Festival. He is executive producer and creator of Viceland’s GLAAD-nominated series, My House. He is also the author of the Kassel Art Book award-winning photo book, Bound by Night. He served in the US Marine Corps as combat cameraman, holds an undergraduate degree from Columbia University, and an MFA from NYU Tisch Grad Film.
Chester Algernal Gordon
Chester is a producer and costume designer who straddles the worlds of film and fashion. He is the first male African-American costume designer to compete in competition at the Cannes Film Festival with Danielle Lessovitz’s Port Authority, produced by Martin Scorsese. Gordon was also a winner of the Tribeca Film Institute’s 2019 TFI All Access Grant. Gordon’s films have played in over 200 festivals combined including Cannes, Sundance, SXSW, BFI, Outfest, and the American Black Film Festival. He is also a producer for the GLAAD-nominated documentary TV series My House, which is currently airing on Viceland.