River Gallo

Last updated
River Gallo
River Gallo 2023.jpg
Born
New Jersey, U.S.
Nationality Salvadoran-American
Education New York University Tisch School of the Arts (BA)
USC School of Cinematic Arts (MFA)
Occupation(s)Filmmaker, actor, model, intersex rights activist
EmployerGaptoof Entertainment
Notable work Ponyboi

River Gallo is a Salvadoran-American filmmaker, actor, model, and intersex rights activist. [1] They wrote, directed, and acted in the 2019 short film Ponyboi, which was the first film to feature an openly intersex actor playing an intersex person. [2] Gallo adapted the screenplay for Ponyboi into a feature-length film by the same name, which premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. Gallo also played the lead role in the 2024 adaptation. [3]

Contents

Personal life

Gallo was born in and grew up in New Jersey. [2] Their parents are immigrants from El Salvador. [4] When they turned twelve they learned they had been born without testicles, although the doctor did not tell them they were intersex. The doctor told them they would need to start hormone therapy and have surgery to insert prosthetic testicles so they would "look and feel like a normal man". [5] [6] [7] They have since become outspoken about ending unnecessary cosmetic surgeries performed on children with atypical genitals who are not old enough to give informed consent. [7]

Gallo learned about the term "intersex", and that it applied to them, while writing their master's thesis. Gallo is non-binary, trans fem, and queer. [2] [3] As of June 2023, they lived in Los Angeles, California. [8]

Career

Gallo left New Jersey to study acting at New York University, where they trained in the Experimental Theatre Wing at the Tisch School of the Arts. After graduating with a bachelor's degree in 2013, [9] they attended the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts and earned their master's degree. [10]

Ponyboi

While studying theater, Gallo created a 40-minute-long stage performance art piece that they would later adapt into Ponyboi. [11] [9] For their master's thesis at USC in 2019, they created the Ponyboi short film. The 19-minute-long piece is about an intersex Latinx runaway in New Jersey who works in the day at a laundromat and at night as a sex worker. On Valentine's Day, Ponyboi meets and falls in love with a man and begins to overcome his traumatic past. [12] [10] [13] While writing the film, Gallo discovered the term "intersex" and came to realize it described them. [6] Gallo co-directed the film along with their USC classmate Sadé Clacken Joseph. [10] The film was produced by executive producer Stephen Fry and co-producers Emma Thompson and Seven Graham. [13] The film was screened at festivals including the BFI Flare: London LGBT Film Festival and the Tribeca Film Festival. [14]

Gallo was a fellow in Sundance's Trans Possibilities Intensive in 2021, during which time they worked to develop the Ponyboi film further. [3] Gallo's adapted the screenplay for the Ponyboi short film into a feature-length film by the same name, which premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. [15] [3] Gallo also played the lead role in the 2024 adaptation, which was directed by Esteban Arango. [3] The crime thriller follows the young intersex sex worker named Ponyboi, who works at a laundromat with his pregnant best friend Angel (Victoria Pedretti). He spends his nights with his secret lover and pimp, and the father of Angel's child, Vinnie (Dylan O'Brien). However, when a drug deal goes bad, he finds himself on the run from the mob. [3] [6] The film was positively reviewed in The Hollywood Reporter , which wrote that Gallo's screenplay "achieves something still rare in an industry unnecessarily confused about inclusion: Ponyboi seamlessly integrates its character's challenges with identity into a propulsive story about a sex worker on the run." [16] Collider wrote that the film was "cinematic gold" that "would be nothing without River Gallo's performance". [17] Variety gave a more critical review, praising Gallo's acting but criticizing the writing as predictable and too reliant on clichés. [18] On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 83% of 23 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.3/10. [19]

Other work

Gallo is the founder and CEO of the Gaptoof Entertainment production company. [6] [14]

In 2020, Gallo performed in an episode of the Hulu original teen drama series Love, Victor , which is a spinoff of the 2018 film Love, Simon . Gallo appears in episode 8, "Boys' Trip", as the character Kim, who is one of Simon's several LGBT roommates. [20]

Gallo was profiled along with Alicia Roth Weigel and Sean Saifa Wall in a documentary about intersex people called Every Body , which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2023. [21] [22]

Recognition

In 2019, Gallo won the GLAAD Rising Star Grant, which they said they planned to use to mentor LGBTQIA+ students in Los Angeles public schools. [6] They were also named in Out magazine's "Most Exciting Queers to Follow on Instagram in 2019" list and Paper's "100 People Taking Over 2019" list. [23] [24] Gallo was named to Out magazine's 2023 "Out100" list. [21]

Activism

Gallo is an intersex rights activist, and has spoken out about issues including unnecessary surgery on intersex children. [6] They have supported California Senate Bill 201, which would ban doctors from performing cosmetic surgeries on children with atypical genitals until they are old enough to give informed consent. [7]

Filmography

Film

YearTitleRoleNotes
2024 Ponyboi PonyboiAlso writer
TBA Fixed FrankieVoice

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
2014 The Heart, She Holler Episode: "Congroined Hearts"
2020 Love, Victor KimEpisode : "Love, Victor"

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jenni Olson</span> American filmmaker (born 1962)

Jenni Olson is a writer, archivist, historian, consultant, and non-fiction filmmaker based in Berkeley, California. She co-founded the pioneering LGBT website PlanetOut.com. Her two feature-length essay films — The Joy of Life (2005) and The Royal Road (2015) — premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Her work as an experimental filmmaker and her expansive personal collection of LGBTQ film prints and memorabilia were acquired in April 2020 by the Harvard Film Archive, and her reflection on the last 30 years of LGBT film history was published as a chapter in The Oxford Handbook of Queer Cinema from Oxford University Press in 2021. In 2020, she was named to the Out Magazine Out 100 list. In 2021, she was recognized with the prestigious Special TEDDY Award at the Berlin Film Festival. She also campaigned to have a barrier erected on the Golden Gate Bridge to prevent suicides.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seven Graham</span> British intersex activist, comedian, filmmaker and playwright, and drug addiction counsellor

Seven Graham is a British intersex activist, comedian, filmmaker and playwright, and drug addiction counsellor. He was a member of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs and is a co-founder of the Amy Winehouse Foundation. In recognition of his intersex activism, The Independent on Sunday called him an LGBT "national treasure" and ranked him second in its 2015 "Rainbow List" of the most influential LGBT people in the UK. In 2017, he wrote and performed in a solo play called Angels are Intersex, and in 2018, he executive produced the short film Ponyboi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Desiree Akhavan</span> American film director, producer, screenwriter and actress

Desiree Akhavan (Persian: دزیره اخوان, born December 27, 1984) is an American filmmaker, writer and actress. She is best known for her 2014 feature film debut Appropriate Behavior, and her 2018 film The Miseducation of Cameron Post. She appeared in the found footage horror film Creep 2.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Films about intersex</span> Film about the intersex experience

Intersex, in humans and other animals, describes variations in sex characteristics including chromosomes, gonads, sex hormones, or genitals that, according to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies". Intersex is a part of nature and that is reflected in some representations of intersex in film and other media.

Iain Morland is a British music technologist and author. He formerly lectured in cultural criticism at Cardiff University. His writings focus on issues of gender and sexuality, medical ethics, and science. In 2005, Times Higher Education described Morland as a leading academic in the field of sex research. He has edited an edition of the journal GLQ, and co-authored Fuckology, a critical analysis of the writings and practices of John Money. With Lih-Mei Liao, Morland co-founded in 2002 Critical Sexology, a continuing interdisciplinary seminar series on gender and sexuality. His audio work includes audio editing, sound design and programming.

Sean Saifa Wall is an African-American researcher, and long-time advocate for intersex rights. He is a queer, transgender, and intersex man of color and former president of Interact Advocates for Intersex Youth. He approaches his work to end intersex oppression through an intersectional lens.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pidgeon Pagonis</span> American activist, writer, artist, and consultant

Pidgeon Pagonis is an American intersex activist, writer, artist, and consultant. They are an advocate for intersex human rights and against nonconsensual intersex medical interventions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intersex rights in the United States</span> Overview of intersex peoples rights in the United States of America

Intersex people in the United States have some of the same rights as other people, but with significant gaps, particularly in protection from non-consensual cosmetic medical interventions and violence, and protection from discrimination. Actions by intersex civil society organizations aim to eliminate harmful practices, promote social acceptance, and equality. In recent years, intersex activists have also secured some forms of legal recognition. Since April 11, 2022 US Passports give the sex/gender options of male, female and X by self determination.

Ryan White is a documentary producer and director best known for his Netflix documentary film Pamela, a Love Story, Amazon Prime's Good Night Oppy, which won five Critics Choice Awards including Best Documentary and Best Director, and his Emmy-nominated Netflix series The Keepers. White's previous films include the HBO movie The Case Against 8, which won Sundance's Directing Award and was nominated for two Emmys, the documentary film Ask Dr. Ruth, and Coded, which was shortlisted for the Academy Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intersex people in the United States military</span>

The regulations regarding the service of intersex people in the United States Armed Forces are vague and inconsistent due to the wide range of human intersex conditions. The United States Armed Forces as a whole does not officially ban intersex people from service but does exclude many based on the form of their status. Policies regarding all intersex people are not addressed formally although depending on the type of sex variation some intersex people are allowed to serve. The United States military and their requirements for service makes it so they are frequently in a unique predicament when it comes to intersex bodies. With their position of needing to discern between male and female bodies, they are exposed to a broad variety of people, such as those who are intersex whose bodies may not match either classification and are more difficult to make decisions on. This ambiguity leads to confusion regarding military medical, behavioral, and legal laws.

Anick Soni is a British Asian intersex human rights activist, creative consultant and researcher in childhood and children's rights, and Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. In 2020, he co-founded an intersex charity in the UK named InterconnectedUK (iCONUK).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SuperKnova</span> Musical artist

Ellie Kim, artist name SuperKnova, is a singer, activist, physician and musician. She has released two studio albums, American Queers and, most recently, superuniverse. She is noted for speaking out publicly against non-consensual intersex surgery in infants while working at Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago, Illinois.

<i>Every Body</i> 2023 documentary by Julie Cohen

Every Body is a 2023 American documentary film directed by Julie Cohen and produced by NBC News Studios. It features Sean Saifa Wall, Alicia Roth Weigel and River Gallo. The film premiered at the Tribeca Festival on June 11, 2023, and was released by Focus Features in the United States on June 30, 2023. It received positive reviews.

Alicia Roth Weigel is an American writer, political activist, and intersex advocate. She serves as a Human Rights Commissioner for Austin, Texas and is the founder of the firm Intrepida Strategy. Weigel, who is intersex, was profiled alongside River Gallo and Sean Saifa Wall in the 2023 documentary film Every Body. She released her memoir, Inverse Cowgirl, in 2023.

<i>Ponyboi</i> 2024 American drama film

Ponyboi is a 2024 American thriller directed by Esteban Arango, from a screenplay by River Gallo. It is based upon the 2019 short film of the same name by Gallo. It stars Gallo, Dylan O'Brien, Victoria Pedretti, Murray Bartlett and Indya Moore.

Esteban Arango is a Colombian American filmmaker.

References

  1. ↑ "About". River Gallo. Retrieved September 26, 2019.
  2. 1 2 3 "Meet River Gallo, The GLAAD Award-Winning Trailblazer Fusing Activism And Art". MTV News . March 28, 2019. Archived from the original on March 28, 2019. Retrieved September 26, 2019.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Donnelly, Matt (January 20, 2024). "River Gallo Is Ready to Conquer Sundance With Bold Intersex Crime Drama 'Ponyboi'". Variety . Retrieved June 21, 2024.
  4. ↑ Scheetz, Cameron (February 18, 2024). "River Gallo dishes on 'Ponyboi,' falling for Murray Bartlett, and the allure of the cowboy". Queerty . Retrieved June 21, 2024.
  5. ↑ Gallo, River (July 19, 2018). "I Didn't Know I Was Intersex — Until I Made a Film About an Intersex Character". them. Retrieved September 26, 2019.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Sultana, Rashad (May 16, 2019). "River Gallo brings intersex issues to mainstream consciousness with film "Ponyboi"". Queerty . Retrieved September 26, 2019.
  7. 1 2 3 Gutierrez, Melody (March 25, 2019). "California lawmakers will consider banning cosmetic genital surgery on intersex children". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved September 26, 2019.
  8. ↑ Phillips, Michael (June 28, 2023). "'Every Body' review: The intersex among us get an overdue documentary portrait". Chicago Tribune . Retrieved June 21, 2024.
  9. 1 2 Nordstrom, Leigh (January 22, 2024). "River Gallo on the Sundance Success of 'Ponyboi'". WWD . Retrieved June 21, 2024.
  10. 1 2 3 Philadelphia, Desa (July 25, 2019). "River Gallo '18 Reps New Jersey, the Intersex Community, (and SCA), with Buzzworthy Short Ponyboi". USC Cinematic Arts. Retrieved September 26, 2019.
  11. ↑ Valentino, Jamie (June 14, 2024). "After a youth in the shadows, filmmaker River Gallo is ready to be seen, heard, and thrive". Queerty . Retrieved June 21, 2024.
  12. ↑ Tate, Allison (February 14, 2019). "'Ponyboi' Is the First Narrative Intersex Film". The Advocate . Retrieved September 26, 2019.
  13. 1 2 Wong, Curtis M. (June 22, 2018). "'Ponyboi' Explores An Intersex Youth's Journey Toward Self-Acceptance". HuffPost . Retrieved September 26, 2019.
  14. 1 2 Nicolette, Sahar (March 13, 2019). "River Gallo: The Intersex Runaway Who's Educating Our Minds & Stealing Our Hearts". Subvrt. Retrieved September 26, 2019.
  15. ↑ Goldsmith, Jill (January 21, 2024). "River Gallo On What Led Them To 'Ponyboi' At Sundance Premiere – "Being Intersex, Being Latinx, Being From New Jersey"". Deadline . Retrieved June 21, 2024.
  16. ↑ Gyarkye, Lovia (January 26, 2024). "'Ponyboi' Review: River Gallo and Dylan O'Brien Star in a Sexy, Sweaty New Jersey Fever Dream". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved June 21, 2024.
  17. ↑ Lacson, Therese (January 30, 2024). "'Ponyboi' Review: Dylan O'Brien? No, This Is River Gallo's Show". Collider . Retrieved June 21, 2024.
  18. ↑ Debruge, Peter (January 26, 2024). "'Ponyboi' Review: Intersex Star River Gallo Can't Be Fenced In, Even by Clichés of Their Own Making". Variety . Retrieved June 21, 2024.
  19. ↑ "Ponyboi". Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved June 21, 2024.
  20. ↑ Kleinmann, James (June 16, 2020). "TV Review: Love, Victor ★★★★". The Queer Review. Retrieved June 19, 2020.
  21. 1 2 Ermac, Raffy (2023). "The 2023 Out100: Every Body's Sean Saifa Wall, River Gallo, & Alicia Roth Weigel". Out . Retrieved June 21, 2024.
  22. ↑ Bugbee, Teo (June 29, 2023). "'Every Body' Review: Celebrating the 'I' in L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+". The New York Times . ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved June 21, 2024.
  23. ↑ "100 People Taking Over 2019". Paper . January 29, 2019. Retrieved September 26, 2019.
  24. ↑ Tirado, Fran (December 31, 2018). "The Most Exciting Queers to Follow on Instagram in 2019". Out . Retrieved September 26, 2019.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.