FILM
The Lunar Month, 2022


17 min / Colour / Digital & 35 mm / United Kingdom / 2022
This is a story about trans lesbian caring and love, exploring the (in)differentiation between liking women and being them, with a bit of dialogue about menstruation, penis, sex, and the moon.

Credits:

Jo — Willow Killeen
Joe — Celia Croft
Director, Writer, Cinematographer, Editor, Colourist — Zhuanxu Xu
Music Composer — LAPIS
First Production Assistant — Xinyu Xu
Second Production Assistant — Yuqing Lin
Commissioned by Tour de Moon as part of UNBOXED: Creativity in the UK


Synopsis:

After a nighttime of enjoyment, Jo and another femme person awake in a room. The two converse regarding Jo’s perception of her own trans identity and the idea of universal womanhood and femaleness: 29 and a half days without menstruation, the fondness and disgust for penis, and the attachment to femininity. When they arrive at the riverbank, Jo learns the femme’s name, Joe, and they decide to go swimming in the river together. However, there is a bloodstain on a pair of white briefs on a pile of clothes belonging to only one person.