Further Information

The story of Blær

The aim of the film is to give insight into the life of a trans girl, examine the prejudices she faces and what gives her the strength to face difficult tasks in life. It is our hope that all young people, regardless of whether they are trans or straight, will feel empathy with Blær and therefore learn through the character how profound the effects of communication can be. We follow Blær closely and get an insight into the effect being subject to hate speech, online and at school, has on her. However, Blær has supporting friends and family who help her cope and she is also incredibly persistent and tackles challenges with great courage. Life is complicated and teenagers are a diverse group. The stories of friends who are refugee children, and a perpetrator who himself is in a difficult situation are spun into Blær reality.

In order to gain insight into the lives of trans women, and be able to pass it on through the film, we work closely with trans consultants every step of the way. The script and all production is done with their advice. We've also enlisted young people, both trans and cis, to get their perspective on the manifestations of hate speech in youth culture.

By sharing this insight we hope to take part in the fight for the rights of queer people. This is important now as we are seeing a backlash against those rights, and the prejudice against trans people has been especially prominent. In the film, we hope all viewers get to know what a fun and lively girl the main character is, and also how grave the effects of hate speech are. This is done to achieve two things, to establish a connection and empathy. Research on the prevention of hate speech has shown that these two factors have a major impact on reducing it (Alrababa'h et al., 2019; Fagan & Catalano, 2013; Soral et al., 2022).

The team

Nyark media and OFSi have teamed up to produce this film.

OFSi was founded in 2019 with the purpose of managing projects related to violence prevention. Among those projects is the creation of educational material and a short film about hate speech in the lives of teenagers. Writing and preliminary work began last fall, and due to the backlash in siciety, we thought it important that the story dealt with a trans girl and her reality.

NyArk Media is an Iceland based media production company focusing on the connections and conflicts humans experience with each other, nature and their own self through an intense combination of visuals and sound, -we strive to tell stories that make you look at the world in a different way.

Sigríður Láretta er is an actress and the screenwriter of the film. She has studied and worked as an actress in London, before moving to Iceland and studying Writing at the University of Iceland. She has written plays and short stories, including Teenage Kicks, which dealt with teenage violence in the 1980s. Throughout the process, she has talked to young trans people about their experiences and reality. Their insight has been invaluable.

Anna Sæunn Ólafsdóttir is an Icelandic film director, producer and a social entrepreneur, based in Barcelona and Reykjavik, Iceland. She founded her company, NyArk Media ehf in 2016 where the focus is on interdisciplinary approach to storytelling via film, publishing and social media.

Lea Ævars is an Icelandic-based Film and TV Producer, Screenwriter and Project Manager. She is the founder and director of the RVK Feminist Film Festival. Lea’s work focuses on empowering women and non-binary people in the Film industry here in Iceland and abroad.

Arna Magnea Danks is an actress, stunt director, teacher and trans activist. She studied acting at East 15 acting shool in London, took a teaching license at the Iceland Academy of the Arts and studied risk direction/teaching at the British Academy of Dramatic Combat. She is the project's consultant and is involved in most stages of the production, giving feedback on the script, helping with casting and auditions as well as working on set.

Sol Berruezo Pichon-Rivière is the director of the film, she is a filmmaker born in Argentina and based in Iceland. She has a degree in cinema directing at the Universidad del Cine. She is currently working on her third feature film "Amor, sexo y lágrimas", set in France. Her first feature film "Mama, Mama, Mama" The film premiered at the Berlinale in 2020, where it was awarded a Special Jury Comment.

Short film and a teaching model available to all youth

The film will be available free of charge to all young people, as well as schools and community centers that will be encouraged to show the film. Along with the productionof the film, OFSi is collaborating with youth organizations in 4 European countries to work on an educational model on preventive materials against hate speech for young people. The training will include projects related to the film and instructions for educators on how to use artistic and cultural material as a starting point for discussing hate speech. The goal of this is that those who see the film have the right tools to use it to build on their knowledge, look at cultural material in a critical way and increase empathy and connections between social groups.