The full story originally appeared and can be found in Source.
As a boy growing up in Brazil in the 1990s, queer artist Kris Barz Mendonça struggled to find his way in a culture that required boys and men to eschew anything even remotely “feminine.”
That meant no dolls, no dresses and no dancing.
“I was always different, I was always nonconforming, even before I was out,” Mendonça said. “It was a long process coming out and accepting myself.”
Now it’s not just about accepting but celebrating, whether it’s through his graphic illustrations, his drag persona Krisa Gonna or his film, “From Shame to Pride.”
In the animated short, screening at Colorado State University’s 7th annual ACT Human Rights Film Festival on April 1, 2022, Mendonça goes back to those early years in Brazil, when a family outing and a corn field provided a rare opportunity to break free.
“The way that I tell the story creates this allegory about the book of rules on ‘how to be a man,’” he said. “And it’s so destructive because it prevents boys and men from sharing their feelings, it prevents them from being who they are.”
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