Film Forum has announced the North American theatrical premiere of Mutt, the debut feature by Chilean-Serbian Director Vuk Lungulov-Klotz, starting Friday, August 18 at Film Forum in New York City. Past and present collide in the heartfelt character study of a recently transitioned man, starring the Sundance prize-winner Lío Mehiel, and distributed by Strand Releasing.
Tender, funny, and poignant, Lungulov-Klotz’s debut drama follows Feña, a recently transitioned trans man (Mehiel, in a star-making performance). Says Leslie Felperin in The Hollywood Reporter: “An eventful New York City day in the life of Feña is depicted with honesty, tenderness and wit. Drawing on his own background as a child of Chilean and Serbian parents and his own experience of transition, Lungulov-Klotz adeptly distills a lot of complex thematic material around gender identity, queer lifestyles and ethnic intersectionality. Mehiel’s performance in particular is so grounding, expressive and compelling to watch… One of the best films about post-transition adjustment.” Mutt combines romance with family drama, centering lived experiences so infrequently represented in the cinema; vivid in its specificity and universal in its humanity.
Mutt premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival where star Lío Mehiel won the U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Acting—the first trans actor in history to win the honor. Mutt won the Generation 14plus - Best Film award at the Berlin International Film Festival and was selected for New Directors/New Films' Closing Night.
Lungulov-Klotz’s directorial debut is at once precise in its specificity and wholly relatable in its grand humanity. A dexterous, visceral lead performance by Mehiel embodies inbetweenness in many forms. Mutt earns its most difficult discussions through its tenderness towards each character’s struggle with the complexity of trans life, Latinx life in America, and of human life at large.
