Video: Goldfrapp releases new short film exploring transgender issues in childhood
British electronic musicians Goldfrapp have released a new video for their upcoming album “Tales of Us,” which explores issues of gender and self-identity in early childhood.
The music video, entitled “Annabel,” is based on the book by Kathleen Winter of the same name.
The video features a young child exploring their gender identity and coming to a moment of self-discovery through imagery, drawings, and dressing up.
The Goldfrapp duo describe the video as “our little film about girl trapped inside the body of a boy.”
The mother in the film, played by Alison Goldfrapp, learns to accept her child for who she is, and at this moment, the child comes to a moment of revelation and fulfilment.
Kathleen Winter’s book, in contrast, focuses on the life of an intersex child. In the novel, a child discovers their true self and explores the girl inside that was denied at birth.
When Winter heard the track, she said: “I realized my work had entered a new place – it had become part of all music. It belonged in the communal air, not just in my body, or the writer’s lair, anymore.
“I’d handed Alison Goldfrapp an egg and she’d held it until it bore an infinitesimal crack, and out of that space escaped the longed-for bird girl in each of us, and the bird girl had her wings and could fly.”
The seven minute video was created by director Lisa Gunning. A full version of the film will be shown in cinemas later this year.
“Annabel” is a track from Goldfrapp’s sixth studio album due to be released on 9 September.
She said: “I’ve had lovely, long relationships with men as well. I just happen to be in a relationship with a lady at the moment.
“I don’t like to be pigeonholed in my life or my music either. The best policy seems to be to go with what feels right, so I do.”
