J Stevens’ Really Happy Someday will make its UK Premiere as an Official Selection of BFI Flare: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival on March 22nd, 2025.
In the drama film, Z, a transmasculine theatre performer, bombs a pivotal musical theatre audition, unable to control his voice after starting testosterone 12 months earlier. To save his own life and livelihood, Z must rediscover himself and his voice.
Starring in the movie are Breton Lalama, Khadijah Roberts-Abdullah, Xavier Lopez and Ali Garrison
Before he transitioned, Z (Breton Lalama, The Madness, Slasher) was a rising musical theatre star struggling with his gender identity. One year into taking testosterone, he has finally started to feel at home in his body but has lost all control of his voice. At the same time, Z’s long-term partner, Danielle (Khadijah Roberts-Abdullah, The Last of Us), feels she’s lost the person she fell in love with. Unable to book work with his changing voice, Z starts bartending, where his new boss, Santi (Xavier Lopez, We Forgot to Break Up), emboldens him to fight for himself and his dreams. Z starts working with a singing instructor, Shelly, to learn how to use his new voice, and maybe even trust himself.
Co-written by J Stevens and Breton Lalama, the duo drew from their own lived experiences to create the films powerful narrative.
Music also plays a vital role in the film, featuring musical classics from Les Misérables, Ordinary Days and an original score from T. Thomason & Joel Waddel. Also showcased in the film is music from trans musicians Lane Webber, Ceréna, Mal Blum, Russel Louder, Blurry, Transstar, The Clicks, Pillow Fite and more.
Speaking on the musical influence, Director J Stevens, who was recently recognized by the Toronto Film Critics Association with the Visionary Director Award, said “I have always loved musicals. RENT was how I discovered I was queer, so it feels right that my first feature is a low key musical, but also not your typical musical at all. Choosing the musical songs we had in the film was a fun and nerve-wracking process. Nerve-wracking because there’s a scene in the film where Z listens to a pre-testosterone recording of himself singing. It was important for us that the recording really was Breton singing, so we had a limited pool of songs that he had old recordings of. Of the recordings I thought On My Own from Les Mis was the perfect song thematically for the film, it’s such an iconically female musical theatre song so to see Z try to sing it at the beginning of the film is jarring and that’s what we needed. I also knew trying to get that song was a huge swing!… Then in terms of Z’s dream song to sing, Breton and I both loved Ordinary Days by Adam Gwon and the song Favourite Places is about wanting to get to these beautiful places that you can never quite reach. It felt perfect thematically and when we reached out to Adam with why we thought it had to be that song, his thoughtful response secured it as the right choice in our minds. We have an incredible score by T. Thomason and Joel Waddell and then an amazing soundtrack featuring all gender-diverse musicians. That felt important to me that the film featured as much talent behind the scenes by gender-diverse artists as you were seeing in front of the camera. This film is a love letter to those talented artists and hopefully a springboard for more opportunities in their careers!”.
The BFI Flare: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival will take place at BFI Southbank from March 19th-30th, 2025.
Watch the first look clip for Really Happy Someday.