Part of the 2026 season: Knowing Me, Knowing You
Blue Boy Trial
Blue Boy jiken, ブルーボーイ事件
Director IIZUKA Kasho
Cast YAMANAKA Takashi, NAKAGAWA Miyu, NISHIKIDO Ryo, MAEHARA Ko
2025, 106 min, English subtitles
Tokyo, 1965. Amid growing internationalisation after the Olympics, the government introduces new measures to reinforce public morals, particularly public prostitution by women. However, the so-called “Blue Boys”, transgender women who live and work as prostitutes, cannot be prosecuted as they are legally registered as male. Frustrated, authorities instead arrest Dr. AKAGI Masao (YAMANAKA Takashi), who performs gender-affirming operations, accusing him of violating the Eugenic Protection Law.
Meanwhile, Sachi (NAKAGAWA Miyu) is quietly planning her future with her fiancé (MAEHARA Ko). She, too, is transgender and one of Dr. AKAGI’s patients. When defence attorney KANO Taku (NISHIKIDO Ryo) asks her to testify in court for Dr. AKAGI, Sachi confronts her past and identity before a society unwilling to see her for who she really is.
Based on the real-life “Blue Boy Incident,” this powerful film sheds light on a ground-breaking yet long-overlooked case that questioned the legality of gender-affirming surgery and what is means to find happiness. The director of Angry Son (JFTFP23), IIZUKA Kasho (a transgender man), and actor NAKAGAWA Miyu (a transgender woman) bring to life a moment that reshaped Japan’s understanding of LGBTQ+ issues and continues to resonate today.
© 2025 “Blue Boy Trial” Film Partners
公式サイトはこちら:https://blueboy-movie.jp/
Screening dates
Please note: Tickets for some screenings may not be available yet.
- Manchester Film Weekender Sunday 8 February, 16:45
- HOME Thursday 12 February, 18:00
- Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) Friday 13 February, 18:10
- Chapter Saturday 14 February, 14:00
- QUAD Sunday 22 February, 14:40
- Depot Wednesday 25 February, 20:30
- Dundee Contemporary Arts Saturday 28 February, 18:00
- Macrobert Arts Centre Monday 2 March, 19:30
- Exeter Phoenix Sunday 8 March, 16:00
- Filmhouse Monday 16 March, 18:00
- Tyneside Cinema Sunday 22 March, 17:20
- Midlands Arts Centre Thursday 26 March, 19:30
- Plymouth Arts Cinema Thursday 26 March, 20:30
If you like this you may like the following
All films in this season
The Hotel of My Dream
Hakkenden: Fiction and Reality
The Man Who Failed to Die
What Should We Have Done?
The Final Piece
She Taught Me Serendipity
Ghost Killer
Adabana
Strangers in Kyoto
Petals and Memories
Ura Aka: L'Aventure
Teki Cometh
Conflagration
Blue Boy Trial
Kaneko's Commissary
The Real You
Silence of the Sea
Love Doesn't Matter to Me
Sham
The Last Blossom
Like Asura
I Am What I Am
ANGRY SQUAD: The Civil Servant and the Seven Swindlers
A Bad Summer
Missing Child Videotape
NEMURUBAKA: Hypnic Jerks





I Am What I Am
Adabana