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/
Past screenings
- Manchester Film Weekender Sunday 8 February, 16:45
- HOME Thursday 12 February, 18:00
Guest appearance - Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) Friday 13 February, 18:10
Guest appearance - Chapter Saturday 14 February, 14:00
Guest appearance - QUAD Sunday 22 February, 14:40
- Depot Wednesday 25 February, 20:30
- Showroom Cinema Friday 27 February, 18:00
- 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
A Bad Summer
Adabana
ANGRY SQUAD: The Civil Servant and the Seven Swindlers
Blue Boy Trial
Conflagration
Ghost Killer
Hakkenden: Fiction and Reality
I Am What I Am
Kaneko's Commissary
Like Asura
Love Doesn't Matter to Me
Missing Child Videotape
NEMURUBAKA: Hypnic Jerks
Petals and Memories
Sham
She Taught Me Serendipity
Silence of the Sea
Strangers in Kyoto
Teki Cometh
The Final Piece
The Hotel of My Dream
The Last Blossom
The Man Who Failed to Die
The Real You
Ura Aka: L'Aventure
What Should We Have Done?





I Am What I Am
Adabana