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Socks on Fire

2020 Official Selection: Features

World Premiere

FEATURE | United States | 93 MINUTES | English | English subtitles

SOCKS ON FIRE

Documentary, LGBTQIA

When the matriarch of a large Southern family passed without a written will, her children became embroiled in a bitter fight over their mother's estate. The fracas prompted director Bo McGuire to return home to Hokes Bluff, Alabama, to document the mounting standoff between his two childhood idols—his now-homophobic aunt and his out-and-proud gay uncle—in a battle that threatens to tear apart multiple generations of a formerly tight-knit tribe. In the process of investigating this epic family feud, McGuire also reflects on his own coming-of-age as a queer youth in the rural South.

Socks On Fire is both a tribute to the filmmaker's beloved grandmother and a first-person saga of a clan riven by petty jealousies and old wounds, fueled by one member's deep-seated homophobia. Blending home videos and intimate interviews with masterful reenactments—including the ingenious casting of local drag queens—McGuire paints a riveting picture of a house divided.—Mimi Brody


CAST & CREDITS

Directed by Bo McGuire

Bo McGuire was born the queer son of a Waffle House cook and his third-shift waitress in Hokes Bluff, Alabama. He is one of Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film and a Ryan Murphy + Half Initiative Mentee. He belongs to the First Church of Dolly Parton.

Director
Bo McGuire
Producer
Tatiana Bears, Amy Dotson
Screenwriter
Bo McGuire
Cinematographer
Matt Clegg
Editor
Max Allman
Composer
Casey Wayne McAllister
Executive Producer
Julie Goldman, Christopher Clements, Carolyn Hepburn
Co-Writer
Max Allman

CONTACTS

Press Contact
Tatiana Bears
Blanton Boles Productions
Gadsden, AL 35901
Phone: 561 523 2544
tatianabears@gmail.com
Press Contact
David Magdael
David Magdael & Associates
Los Angeles, CA 90015
Phone: 213 624 7827
dmagdael@dmagpr.com