France / United States 2022, 97 min, English, Hebrew subtitles The rumors of a safe haven, a secret club, a refuge where “men could live as women” spread in whispers back in the days when “transsexual” was a word few dared to utter, and when crossdressing could land you in jail. This humble house in the Catskill Mountains looked no different from other local farmsteads, but the founders—Susanna, a trans woman herself, and her wife Marie, who owned a wig shop in Manhattan—gave their guests complete privacy and discretion when they arrived there to spend a weekend free from pretending. Sébastien Lifshitz’s big-hearted film tells the story of a unique community formed under the weight of oppression and persecution as seen through the eyes of its members, including two elderly ladies whose lives changed forever thanks to Casa Susanna. Previous Festivals: TIFF, CPH:DOX, FIPA Award Winners Extraordinary Women Friendship LGBTQ+ Films Masters Social Justice Treasures of the Archive Official Website Director: Sébastien Lifshitz Sébastien Lifshitz was born in 1968 in Paris, France. After studying art history at the Ecole du Louvre, he decided to devote himself to cinema and directed his first feature film, Come Undone, in 2000, which was acclaimed by critics and distributed worldwide. This was followed by the documentary The Crossing (2001), selected for the Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes, then Wild Side (2004) and Bambi (2016), both of which won awards at the Berlin Film Festival. After The Invisibles (2012), an official selection at the Cannes Film Festival, and The Lives of Thérèse (2017) at the Directors’ Fortnight, he directed two new documentaries: Adolescents, awarded at the Locarno Film Festival, winner of Louis-Delluc Prize for Best Film and of three César in 2021, and Little Girl, presented at the Berlin Film Festival in 2020 and distributed worldwide, including in the United States, in 2022. Production: Muriel MeynardProduction Company: AGAT FILMS, ARTE FRANCE, AMERICAN EXPERIENCE FILMSEditing: Tina BazCinematography: Paul GuilhaumeSound Design: Francois Abdelnour Source: AGAT FILMS Screenings Choose a screening Oops... Your subscription is not valid for this screening method. Please purchase a different subscription or a single ticket for this screening. Buy a subscription Buy a subscription Buy a ticket Have a subscription? Login