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River Gallo (PONYBOI)



River Gallo

Actor, writer, intersex advocate and director River Gallo is a multi-hyphenate to watch. The talented performer stars as the titular character in "Ponyboi," co-directed by Sadé Clacken Joseph and carrying the additional star power of Stephen Fry and Emma Thompson on the producing end. Ponyboi is an intersex runaway who works by day at a laundromat and by night as a sex worker in suburban New Jersey. He dreams of escaping the isolation of his reality. This dreamily shot, romantic film introduces a handsome stranger into Ponyboi's life who might be his ticket out. It should be mentioned that "Ponyboi" is the first of its kind, starring an openly intersex performer in an intersex role. River remembers two very specific pivotal moments in his life that shaped him into the filmmaker and artist he is today: “When I was 12 and first found out that I was different, and then when I was 27 and my identity was kind of reconfirmed to me,” he tells MTV News. It was at 27 that Gallo was working on his senior thesis, "Ponyboi," which depicted what he calls the “loneliness” of his experience growing up. While researching for the film, the NYU graduate and USC grad student discovered the term “intersex,” which led to him realizing all the ways doctors had lied to him as a teenager, and made him feel othered. Check out this article on River here!


Watch "Ponyboi" here (PW:magic8)!

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