Closet Monster

The coming-of-age story gets an imaginative makeover with Stephen Dunn’s debut feature, which mixes affecting drama with whimsical fantasy to tell the story of high school senior Oscar (Connor Jessup), a young man who is struggling with his identity and a turbulent volatile home life with his increasingly volatile father.

Oscar finds an escape from his troubled home life in a passion for special effects and fantasy makeup that he shares with his best friend Gemma (Sofia Banzhaf) and hopes to pursue in college. At home, he creates a different fantasy world, sharing a close bond with the pet hamster (voiced by Isabella Rosellini) who has talked to him since his childhood.

When Oscar meets the cool, handsome Wilder (Aliocha Schneider), he finally starts coming to terms with his own sexuality, which he has repressed since witnessing a terrible act of homophobic violence as a child.

Closet Monster premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, winning the award for Best Canadian Feature Film and was named one of Canada’s Top Ten films of 2015.