Preview: TOPS on Tour with TGirls On Film @ Star & Shadow

Writer, director and artist Ames Pennington and film programmer, trans historian, and actor Jaye Hudson (TGirls On Film) bring their screening tour to on Friday 27th February, sharing Ames’ debut feature TOPS with audiences at Star & Shadow. Each date on the tour pairs the film with a hand‑selected short — here, it’s Annette Kennerly’s Boys In The Backyard — before Ames and Jaye open the floor for a Q&A.

A playful pastiche of late‑90s/00s British reality TV, TOPS follows Ames in the role of an intrusive presenter, exploring trans masc experiences across the UK with a satirical odyssey through the lives and homes of four unique individuals, asking the question: “What TOP did you want to wear after TOP surgery?”

TOPS opens up space for honest conversations around the vulnerability of surgery, without leaning into the bleak or sensationalised narratives that often dominate mainstream portrayals of trans lives.

Its premiere at BFI Flare 2024 saw it named in the Evening Standard and AnOther Magazine’s Top 10 picks of the festival, alongside winning the Audience Award at Bradford Queer Film Festival and earning a longlisting for the BIFA Maverick Award. The film has since travelled internationally, screening at festivals including GAZE (Dublin), Kashish Pride (Mumbai), NewFest (New York) and Crossings (Norway).

Ames & Jaye say: “We are super excited to go on tour with “TOPS and our T-girls shorts, we love the regions! We can’t wait to show some films and hang out with our trans and queer community”

Tickets are on sale via the Star & Shadow website