Documentary - XY Chelsea

Coming to UK cinemas and on digital on 24th May, watch the trailer for the Chelsea Manning documentary...

After instigating the largest of leak of secrets in US history - when she disclosed 750,000 documents to Wikileaks - ex-soldier and trans woman Chelsea Manning was supposed to spend most of the rest of her life behind bars in an all-male military prison. But on January 17 2017, President Barack Obama commuted hersentence, in an unprecedented and controversial move that divided the United States and the world. 

XY Chelsea follows Chelsea Manning as she leaves prison after seven years inside, and begins a new life, whilst at the same time having to deal with the far-reaching consequences of her past - the historic leaks that lead to her prison sentences, the unintended celebrity status that is thrust on her as one of the world’s most notorious whistleblowers, and transitioning to become the woman she has always known herself to be. 

XY Chelsea is an intimate character portrait of a fascinating, unique and complex woman, a true rebel and outsider, who after making history must now start a new life, in a world which is far from welcoming, and in the shadow of rising Nationalism and intolerance, which has fomented hate and division throughout America.

The director Tim Travers Hawkins is an award-winning independent director, cinematographer and multimedia artist. He said in his Director's Statement about the documentary, "XY Chelsea was a film born with an invisible protagonist. My vision for this film was then, and has remained, a character-driven film in which the personal and political are woven and collide in the most spectacular contemporary style. It is a coming of age story that captures the post-millennial Zeitgeist." He continued, "The consequences of Chelsea’s disclosures will not be fully grasped or known for many years, but the essence of her defiant act, and the manner with which she was swiftly crushed by state power, speaks to a long human tradition of the individual acting alone in the face of unbearable, unrelenting power."



The documentary will be on Showtime in the US, premiering on 7th June, and in cinemas and on digital in the UK on 24th May.

Image & info - Dogwoof Ltd