OUT100's Mykki Blanco has partnered with i-D to create a powerful new documentary that explores South Africa's LGBTQ scene. Directed by queer filmmaker and longtime collaborator Matt Lambert, Out of This World sees Blanco playing host and immersing himself in a diverse community of sexually liberated young creatives within Johannesburg.
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The film, out today, touches on everything from traditional displays of masculinity to homophobia and ways the Internet enables young queers to easily exchange ideas. "I think this international queer digital diaspora empowers people," Blanco told i-D, calling attention to 18-year-old Luke van den Burg, who's trans and lives in Jo'burg. "I think about how much lonelier she would feel if she didn't have online references."
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Out of This World pays particular attention to South African youth culture and the "Born Free" generation that's helping shape queer Jo'burg. As Blanco points out, the LGBTQ community he witnessed was not one that followed a "singular African narrative" defined by colonial stereotypes, but one created by many different artists who're "wanting to engage and understand" each other's differences.
Watch Mykki Blanco's i-D documentary, below, which the rapper calls a "life-changing" project.
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