Butterflies in Berlin

Berlin in the final years of the Weimar Republic is a city of cabarets, experiment and possibility, and for Alex it is the place where a lifelong sense of being split in two can finally be resolved. Becoming Alexandra, one of the first women in history to undergo gender-affirming surgery, she steps into a new life just as the Nazis rise to power and the city's freedoms begin to close. Monica Manganelli's animated short, subtitled Diary of a Soul Split in Two, renders this journey in a striking art deco style that blends 2D animation, collage, cut-outs and 3D, drawing a parallel between one woman's transformation and a society's descent into darkness. An Italian-German co-production featuring the voices of Paolo De Santis, Chris Jones and Sharon Fryer, the film won Best Animated Film at the Merlinka and Side by Side queer film festivals, a Jury Prize at Bellaria and the Grand Prix at West Side Mountains Doc Fest.