Red without Blue

Mark and Alex, a pair of blond twins, are born into a beautiful home in an American suburb. This family idyll does not last long, however. Their parents' marriage breaks up. Puberty brings with it the realisation that the boys are not heterosexual and their adolescence is marked by drugs, sexual assault and, ultimately, a joint–suicide attempt. The twins were forcibly separated and now they are trying to re–establish their connection with each other after years apart. Alex is now Clair. She is undergoing a sex change and Mark has to learn to accept that he no longer has an identical brother. Clair's mother rejects her child's new gender while her father establishes a new relationship with his daughter. This sincere film about family ties uses a wide range of visual resources. In addition to drawing on a family archive of films and photographs, it brings the twins face–to–face with each other in a mutual conversation, whilst also employing the traditional technique of independent testimonies given by family members to the camera. The film contains some striking landscape footage as well. The team of young directors followed the movie's protagonists for three and a half years while they were studying in New York and San Francisco, on a placement in Prague, and during visits home. The atmosphere of the picture is strongly complemented by an impressive soundtrack.