First Day (2020)

Genre

drama television series

Country

Australia

Length

2 seasons, 8 episodes

Rated

PG

Rating

9.3 of 10 from 9 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A twelve year old transgender girl named Hannah Bradford starts high school. She deals with the everyday challenges of being a teenager while keeping her gender identity private at first.

gentlehopefulempatheticslice-of-lifeintrospectivewarmsincereunderstated

What happens

First Day is an Australian drama television series which premiered on ABC Me on 30 March 2020. The series originated as a short film of the same title which aired in 2017. The series retells elements of the short film. The series was filmed in Adelaide, South Australia including on location at Marryatville High School and Mercedes College. The series is written and directed by Julie Kalceff and stars Evie MacDonald as twelve year old transgender girl Hannah Bradford, as she adjusts to high school at the start of a new year. She must navigate the social and personal issues of her early teenage years, while also dealing with the pressures of her gender identity, which is largely private at the beginning of the series. Overriding themes include the focus on identity and belonging, and the exploration of transgender rights. The series was produced by Epic Films and Kojo Entertainment, in association with the South Australian Film Corporation and the Australian Children's Television Foundation (ACTF). It received principal development and production funding from the Australian Government and Screen Australia. Jan Stradling from the ABC and Bernadette O'Mahony from ACTF served as the executive producers of the series. The second and final series premiered in March 2022. First Day and the associated short film have received a positive reception for its representation of diversity in transgender children. The short film won an award for diversity from MIPCOM and won a Prix Jeunesse Gender Equity Prize in 2018. The full series won a string of awards across 2020 and 2021, including a GLAAD Media Award and an International Emmy Kids Award. The series gained attention in the United States following its release on Hulu. In a 2024 interview, Alice Maio Mackay discussed her experience working on First Day and described the atmosphere on set as "transphobic (and) vile." Mackay credited the experience with cementing her disgust of the Australian film industry and deciding she would not pursue its approval. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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