set in a downbeat costal town, Jay ventures into the local gym in search of her father.

Produced by Ike Newman and written + directed by Jesse Lewis Reece, Bleach is a gritty social realism that focuses on an isolated and lost character, Jay. A lost and confused young female using her androgynous appearance to mask her true identity from her estranged father Shane, the notorious local debt collector and boxing gym owner. The narrative was very much a character driven piece that’s content drew inspiration from films such as ‘This is England’ (Meadows, 2006) and ‘Fishtank’ (Arnold, 2009).

 

Elijah Harris was cast to play the androgynous female lead of Jay. At the time of shooting Elijah was undergoing a series of testosterone treatments to start the process of becoming a man.

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Furthermore, thanks to our fantastic Casting Director Sue Odell, who has founded and street cast the likes of Sasha Baron Cohen and FKA Twiggs we found our male lead Kru Lundy. Kru played the character of Shane, a boxing gym owner and debt collector. To our surprise on the day of casting at Sue’s house in Camden, Kru walked in laden with tattoo’s and a strong Liverpudlian accent, and proceeded to tell us about his background of being an ex debt collector and current muay thai gym owner and instructor.

 

The Film is currently circulating through film festivals such as Camerimage, Royal Television Society (nominated for Best Drama) and BSSF and will be available to watch later this year. Check out some of our additional fantastic BTS images and video.

Watch the behind the scenes video below. Interviews with cast members, discussions about domestic violence and the story of main actor Elijah's sexual transition in real life and the film itself. Please be aware that this video contains strong language which some viewers may find offensive.

A collection of concept art behind the creation of Bleach's main characters.

A look into the small crew of forty people who became the Bleach family.