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Hero image for About Face - Jewel's Darl

About Face - Jewel's Darl

Television (Full Length) – 1985

"...I mean to say, shouldn't I be in love with a fella or something?" Mandy (Richard Hanna), a man who dresses as a woman, describes his relationship with transsexual Jewel (future politician Georgina Beyer). Jewel's Darl concentrates on the fine details of their relationship: tea and biscuits in bed, Jewel's belief in staying strong against other people's mockery, and Mandy's memories of a troubled childhood. Nominated for multiple NZ Film and Television awards after finally getting a TV slot, Peter Wells' drama was inspired by an Anne Kennedy short story, which won the 1983 Katherine Mansfield Award. 

...she ends up in the cells, reading the writing on the walls for company — hoping she doesn't come out of there in a box. Jewel says she knew two Queens who came out in boxes. Yeah...so Jewel says you gotta be tough kid. You've gotta never lose face.
– Mandy (Richard Hanna) recalls the time Jewel ended up in a cell

Acknowledgements

Made with funding from the NZ Film Commission in association with South Pacific Merchant Finance Limited

Music

Song ‘Love Happens’ performed by Annie Crummer, and written by Keith Ballantyne and Wayne Laird

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