Zerophilia

Zerophilia
Promotional poster
Directed by	Martin Curland
Produced by	Gregory Lanesey Matt Radecki Martin Curland Alan Grossbard Jay Whitney Brown
Written by	Martin Curland
Starring	Taylor Handley Gina Bellman Kyle Schmid Kelly LeBrock
Music by	Kevin McDaniels Edie Pijpers
Cinematography	Graham Futerfas
Distributed by	TLA Releasing Allumination Filmworks Microangelo Entertainment
Release date(s)	United States limited October 13, 2006
Running time	90 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$325,000

Zerophilia is a 2006 romantic comedy with speculative-fiction elements directed by Academy of Motion Pictures' Student Academy Award winning director Martin Curland and produced by Microangelo Entertainment. It is about a young man who discovers that he has a genetic condition which causes him to change gender when he orgasms.

Plot

"Zerophilia" is a fictional condition that affects an unknown number of people afflicted with an extra "Z" chromosome. Following their first full sexual experience, zerophiliacs begin to change gender after experiencing an orgasm. Luke (Taylor Handley), a young man somewhat insecure about his masculinity, begins to exhibit zerophilia following an encounter with a woman (Kelly LeBrock). He meets Michelle (Rebecca Mozo) and experiences partial transformations when they go out together.

He confides with his best friend Keenen (Dustin Seavey) about his partial transformations, who in turn contacts Dr. Sydney Catchadourian (Gina Bellman). Dr. Catchadourian persuades Luke to go through a full transformation. Luke does this by masturbating and becoming female, calling herself "Luca". Luca has difficulty achieving an orgasm to change back, even with coaching from Keenan's girlfriend Janine (Alison Folland). However, a visit by Michelle's attractive brother, Max (Kyle Schmid), who flirts with "Luke's cousin", enables her to get sufficiently aroused to complete the transformation back.

Luke is threatened by his gender transformation, his arousal by an attractive male, and the questions of sexuality it raises; he seeks help from Sydney. She tells him that a zerophiliac can become "a-morphic" and stop changing gender only by having sex with another zerophiliac... such as herself. He relents, but discovers afterward that she wasn't telling him the full truth: an a-morphic zerophiliac can still change, but only by having sex with another zerophiliac; Dr. Catchadourian was using Luke to change herself into a man, leaving Luca as a woman in the process.

Comic tensions arise from Luke's efforts to keep Michelle at a distance, Max's defensiveness about his sister, Luca's half-hearted resistance to Max's affections, and Luke's confused aggression toward Max. When Michelle discovers that Luke had sex with Dr. Catchadourian, she feels betrayed. Hoping to find Michelle, Luca seeks out Max and reveals the depth of her/(his) affection for Michelle and how sorry he is to have betrayed her. Max is touched by her apology, and reveals that he is actually Michelle, also a zerophiliac. They make love repeatedly, both of them changing gender each time, destined to live happily, alternately as Luca and Max and Luke and Michelle.

Cast

• Taylor Handley as Luke
• Dustin Seavey as Keenan
• Alison Folland as Janine
• Kyle Schmid as Max
• Rebecca Mozo as Michelle
• Adam Zolotin as Chad
• Gina Bellman as Dr. Sydney Catchadourian (female)
• Chris Meyer as Jeremy
• Marieh Delfino as Luca
• Kelly LeBrock as Woman in RV
• Rick Stear as Dr. Sydney Catchadourian (male)

Release

The film was released on October 13, 2006 in theaters in North America. It was released internationally on cable and DVD in February 2007.

The screenplay can be found on The International Movie Screenplay Database, http://www.imsdb.com

External links

• Official website
• Zerophilia at the Internet Movie Database
• REVIEW - New York Times (October 13, 2006, New York Times)
• REVIEW - Variety (November 6, 2006, Variety)
• REVIEW - Slant Magazine (2006, Slant Magazine)
• REVIEW - Insight News (February 19, 2007, Insight News)