This presenter embarks on a satirical journey through the lives and homes of four unique individuals, posing the question: “What TOP did you want to wear after TOP surgery?”
Fun, satirical and a pastiche of the chaotic, brash, self-deprecating and clueless 1990s/2000s British reality TV, TOPS sees TV’s Ames Pennington delve into the lives of four individuals who’ve had TOP surgery in a desperate attempt for the presenter to make their first-ever trans friend.
“The idea for TOPS came from a quite simple place. I wanted to
TOPS, Director
wear a top but I knew it would look better on me sans tits.”
These four interviewees include a powerlifter and gay-games Olympian hopeful, a housing officer come actor, an Essex filmmaker, and an equality diversity and inclusion specialist-slash/occasional model. They open up their lives, homes and, in one case, bag of dicks, to the invasive, neurotic and yet loveable Ames Pennington.
A genre-busting documentary which blends the real and the fiction, we’re drawn in by the question that defines trans masc experience, “What TOP did you want to wear after TOP surgery?”
“There’s some really dark anti-Trans rhetoric in the UK right now, and I feel it’s more important than ever that Trans people still get to have a laugh.”
TOPS, Director
Yet through their encounters with the interviewees, TOPS does more than simply ask and answer this question. Along with the heart-filled yet hilarious interviews, it also explores the life of the desperate and lonely artist willing to go to extreme lengths, including stealing footwear and camping out in the gardens of interviewees, to gain unhindered access. With abrupt, unscripted comedy juxtaposed against tenderness, TOPS allows for conversations around the vulnerability of top surgery with those who’ve had it without adding to the pile of sad or gory Trans stories displayed in the mainstream media. Yes, your nipples might fall off – but you can still have a lol.
TOPS is on 21 September 2024 , 6;15 pm, at Rio Cinema, 107 Kingsland High St, London E8 2JS, United Kingdom.
Q&A with filmmakers after the film.
dir. Ames Pennington, Jos Bitelli
Access:
Rio Cinema has: step free access to the venue step free access or lifts to both screens wheelchair spaces at each screen – contact the venue to book two accessible toilets. PA/companion tickets can be booked via the venue with a CEA card
