All over me

Fifteen year old Claude (Alison Folland) works part time in a pizza shop, lives with her mother in a small apartment in Hell’s Kitchen and loves to jam with her best friend Ellen (Tara Subcoff). However, Claude’s world is starting to change; Claude realises that she has developed stronger feelings for Ellen. Ellen is spending less time with Claude because she has a new boyfriend, Mark, whose aggression and homophobia alienate Claude. Luke (Pat Briggs), a gay musician, has moved into her apartment block and encourages Claude’s interest in music and the world she lives in. When Claude meets Lucy (Leisha Hailey from The Murmers), her recognition of her homosexuality comes to the fore. However, Claude’s world and the people in it are careering out of control; violence abounds and Claude witnesses Ellen’s increasingly complex relationship with drugs. The Sichel sisters, Alex (director) and Sylvia (writer) have created a rites-of-passage film about coming out and growing up in the unforgiving environment of Hell’s Kitchen. The desultory mood of the film and the subtle performance of Folland as Claude launches a dramatic debut feature for the Sichel sisters. (Awards: Winner, Gay Teddy bear at the 1997 Berlin Film Festival)