About this submission

Growing up in the Baptist Church, I was forced to hide my sexuality, even from myself, until I left Texas for good. "I might be sexually attracted to men, but I'd never date one," a lie I would naively tell myself. "I'm not gay." I wore a rubber band around my wrist, and whenever lust entered my brain, I would snap it, as my own hopes of self-conversion ran thin. When I was eventually outed to my parents, and cut out of their lives, I decided to make a film about the experience of growing up gay in the Church.

Cameron Kostopoulos

Creator

Cameron Kostopoulos is an award-winning artist and filmmaker. They are the creator of "Body of Mine", a VR experience about gender dysphoria that won the Producers Guild Innovation Award, SXSW Special Jury Award, BAFTA Student Award and more, and "In the Current of Being", a haptic immersive documentary and the recipient of the Agog Immersive Impact Award. They are the Founder & CEO of Kost, a storytelling collective aimed at helping us better understand ourselves, the world around us, and our fellow human beings. They have a BFA in Film & TV Production from USC's School of Cinematic Arts and an MA from ASU’s Narrative & Emerging Media Program. more...