
Hedwig and the angry inch
John Mitchell / US, 2001
The Gaze, a series focusing on filmmakers from the LBTG scene and their significance for film history, would not be complete without this film. John Cameron Mitchell’s portrait of a transsexual from the German Democratic Republic finding rebellious happiness in the US became a riveting post-punk rock musical. Free prosecco after the performance.

Hedwig, a transsexual from Eastern Germany, decides to undergo surgery so she can emigrate to the US as the wife of an American GI. Although the transformation from man-woman to woman is not a hundred percent successful (an “angry inch” of manhood still remaining), Hedwig keeps her pecker up. Once in America, she starts celebrating her new life as the lead singer of Hedwig and the Angry Inch…John Cameron Mitchell”s post-punk neo-glam rock musical became an absolute favourite with festival crowds and was laden with prizes. In 2010 Mitchell once again thrilled the audiences with his outrageously subversive romcom Shortbus, a film situated mainly in the bedrooms and underground sex clubs of New York. The American Film Rating System, however, was not amused to be confronted with a scene in which one of the men in a gay threesome hums the national anthem into the arse of one of his partners.
Details
Director
John Mitchell
Production year
2001
Country
US
Original title
Hedwig and the angry inch
Subtitles
ENG or NLD
Format
35mm


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