Club Kid (film)

The life of washed-up underground party promoter Peter takes an unexpected turn when he is forced to care for Arlo, a 10-year old son he never knew he had.

• Jordan Firstman as Peter, a party promoter
• Cara Delevingne as Sophie, Peter's business partner
• Diego Calva as Oscar, Arlo's social worker
• Reggie Absolom as Arlo, Peter's son
• Eldar Isgandarov as Nicky, an aspiring Queer philosopher from Azerbaijan^[3]
• Miss Benny

British musician Shygirl also makes a cameo appearance as herself.

Club Kid marks Jordan Firstman's feature directorial debut. It is produced by Alex Coco and Galen Core, with Firstman, Olmo Schnabel, and Daniela Taplin serving as executive producers. Topic Studios produced and financed the project, with Stay Gold acting as co-financier.^[6]

Casting includes Firstman, Cara Delevingne ^[7], Diego Calva, Miss Benny and newcomer Reggie Absolom, who plays the titular character. It was shot on 35mm, with cinematography by Adam Newport-Berra. UTA Independent Film Group handled worldwide sales, partnering with Charades on international sales.^[8][9]

The film had its world premiere at the 79th Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard section, receiving a 7-minute standing ovation.^[10] Shortly after its premiere, the film reportedly received offers from multiple studios including Mubi, Focus Features, Searchlight Pictures, A24, and Black Bear Pictures ranging as high as seven and eight figures; Netflix and Warner Bros. Clockwork also expressed interest in acquiring the film, but dropped out in the early stages of bidding.^[11][12][13] A few days later, A24 acquired worldwide distribution rights for $17 million.^[9][14]

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 100% based on 22 reviews, with an average rating of 8.6/10.^[15] On Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, the film holds a score of 85/100 based on 12 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".^[16] Wendy Ide of ScreenDaily assessed that Firstman's "depiction of queer party culture is loving, authentic and non-judgemental" and that the film could become a "breakout indie hit".^[3]