Silas Howard, co-executive producer on the Ryan Murphy FX series Pose (pictured above) and the first transgender director to work on the Amazon series Transparent, is set to take the helm of MOONSHADOW, a film that will merge horror with a story of gay conversion therapy, which is already troubling enough on its own.
Written by Ernesto Foronda and Daniel Foerste, the story is inspired by Foerste's own experience in conversion therapy and centers on
a transgender teen who is sent to a science-based conversion camp by his family and quickly learns that the youth there are being converted into something less than human.
It will be interesting to see what this "less than human" form is. Zombie-like pod people? Monsters? We'll have to wait to find out.
Howard had this to say about the project:
With a battle over transgender rights playing out on the national stage, and as a member and advocate of the trans community, I feel it is critical to be a part of the conversation. The current generation of young people is living with entirely new expectations about gender and sexuality, and MOONSHADOW is for them."
MOONSHADOW is a collaboration between the companies Gunpowder & Sky, Ki Jin Kim and Giulia Caruso's Nonetheless Productions, and Justin Lin's digital production company YOMYOMF (not sure how to say that out loud, but it stands for You Offend Me You Offend My Family).
YOMYOMF Creative Director Philip W. Chung said,
What's compelling about this project is that it works as a purely entertaining horror film that fans of the genre can enjoy on its own terms, while also providing insight into the struggles facing the trans community today. The most interesting horror films share a subversive streak; they use their fictional horrors to comment on the horrors of our real world and with our talented MOONSHADOW collaborators, we hope to continue that tradition."
Howard made his feature directorial debut with the 2001 film BY HOOK OR BY CROOK and in addition to episodes of Pose and Transparent his credits include episodes of The Fosters and This Is Us; the documentary MORE THAN T, which featured six transgender individuals telling their stories; and this year's A KID LIKE JAKE, about parents who realize their young child is transgender. Howard and writer Foronda previously worked together on the 2012 film SUNSET STORIES.