Half

I made this film because I was pissed.

Pissed that pop culture sucks at showing what it’s like to be bisexual.

We’ve come a little ways since Sex and the City called bisexuality “a layover on the way to gaytown.” But bisexuals are still portrayed either as confused or slutty. Or as confused sluts.

Why not make films that dwell in the reality of being bisexual? There’s a lot of there there.

Take the inciting incident of this short: the moment of coming out to your significant other. Isn’t that… weird? Gay people, lesbians, straight folks—98.2% of the population—don’t find themselves in that position. It’s a singularly bisexual scenario. It’s the story of someone who doesn’t slot into any easy categorization.

Our protagonist's identity—bisexual, half-Jewish—gives him access to various subcultures. But never full access. Jonah doesn’t quite fit into the Jewish or queer communities. He’s half. Straddling a line. One foot out the door. He shares this skewed perspective with his closest confidante, Richie, a Black rabbi and adult convert. They see and experience cultural situations from both the inside and the outside. Jonah, without any ready-made identity available to him, must carve out his own singular identity over the course of the film.

The making of this film was an act of self-creation for me, too.

Like Jonah, I am (surprise, surprise!) bisexual and half-Jewish. Like Jonah, I have felt adrift in a sea of disparate possibilities for relating to others romantically, religiously, and communally.

Writing, directing, and performing in HALF gave me the opportunity to anchor myself to something, to hide little pieces of me in gestures, lines of dialogue, and carefully crafted frames.

It's thrilling and frightening to present a part of myself to you.

I hope you'll enjoy it.