Issue:
Join the Film Committee …
Join us on Monday, November 10 at 6 p.m. for a sneak preview of Kasho Iizuka’s remarkable period film Blue Boy Trial, which explores an extraordinary and little-known moment in Japan’s legal and social history. Inspired by true events, the film begins in 1965 with the enforcement of Japan’s anti-prostitution laws and the legal loophole that exempted male sex workers—known as “blue boys”—because prostitution was defined as a transaction between a man and a woman. When authorities were unable to arrest the blue boys themselves, they instead targeted the surgeon who had performed gender-affirming surgeries for some of them, leading to a sensational trial that dominated the tabloids. Iizuka’s film focuses on the stories of the three trans women who testified as witnesses for the defense, brought to life by a remarkable ensemble cast and supported by stunning production and costume design, achieving period authenticity from the smoky nightclubs and bustling back alleys of 60s-era Tokyo to the intense atmosphere of the courtroom. The women’s testimonies—and the questions they raised—ignite a debate that resonates as powerfully today as it did six decades ago.
The director will be joined by his breakout star, Miyu Nakagawa, for the Q&A session after the FCCJ screening. (Blue Boy Trial, Japan, 2025, 106 minutes, in Japanese with English subtitles).
Thomas Ash is an FCCJ Film Committee member.
