Threshold / Limiar

The autobiographical documentary follows five years in the life of teenage Noah, who’s looking for his identity across the gender scale. He is able to talk about his mental processes and feelings clearly, precisely, and openly. The director, Coraci Ruiz, is his mother, and she has sensitively mapped the teenage years crowned with transition and hasn’t shied away from such difficult questions as gender fluidity and deeply rooted fears. She uses the camera primarily as a means of understanding – her son as well as complex issues. Ruiz has always been active in the fight for gender equality and grew up with a mother who fought for female emancipation and freedom in family relationships. Ruiz is now startig the fight for the equality of queer people and must re-evaluate her, already very open-minded, opinions. The documentary was created as a post-graduate work, and the director therefore offers not only an intimate family film, but also a passionate, almost scientific, examination of gender identity transformations and the three-generational fight for equality in Brazil. The film premiered at the prestigious Hot Docs festival in Canada.