Film Independent’s Fiscal Sponsorship program opens the door to nonprofit funding for independent filmmakers and media artists. Donate today and help bring A Texas Son to life.
 

Logline

A loving portrait from a transgender son to his father as their lives intersect with mental health, identity, and masculinity over a ten-year journey.

Synopsis

Growing up against a background of “Texas masculinity” gave my Dad and me an idea of who we were in the world–a “cowboy” hero of the justice system and his “little girl.” He inspired me to make a documentary about his work as a criminal defense attorney; however, what started as an expose took an unexpected turn when he suddenly attempted suicide only a month into filming. When this blew our world apart, everything changed, and I mean everything. In the process, we became who we were meant to be and rebuilt our relationship as father and son.

Equal parts candid and tender, A Texas Son does not magically prove acceptance; instead, it grants its characters space to grow over time by working through complex emotions and grappling with identity. As a non-binary and trans filmmaker, I tell this story through a gender-expansive lens. If my father had not seen me as his daughter at the beginning of the movie, we wouldn’t have been able to achieve the same level of closeness and understanding.

This is a personal film about a father and son tackling heavy topics, but these conversations happen on a front porch, in a garden, surrounded by a surprising number of baby chickens. Using a mix of digital video and super-8 film, it follows two characters at a crossroads, relearning who they are and their relationships with each other over a ten-year journey.

 

Meet the Filmmakers

Cody Stickels — Director
Cody Stickels (he/they) is a filmmaker who creates character-driven work that unites audiences. Most recently, he was selected for the 2024 Film Independent Documentary Story Lab with the project A Texas Son. Cody’s last film, A Night at Switch n’ Play, won the audience award for Best Documentary at New York City’s NewFest film festival and screened internationally at festivals such as BFI Flare, Inside Out, and Woodstock. He graduated from New York University with a BFA in Film & TV and an MA in Individualized Study, earning a Dean’s Award for Outstanding Interdisciplinary work.

Chelsea Moore — Producer
Chelsea Moore (they/she) is a femme filmmaker and producer who strives to cultivate healing work and relationships with creators, participants, and audiences. They are a fellow of the Sundance Producer’s Intensive, the Black Public Media Incubator, and the Film Independent Documentary Producers Lab. In addition to their producing work, Chelsea is a Documentary Producers Alliance member, chair of the DPA Union Research sub-committee, and assistant programmer at Tribeca Film Festival.

Matthew Heymann — Director of Photography
Matthew Heymann is a producer and cinematographer based in Brooklyn, NY, with over a decade of experience crafting stories for film and video. In 2020, he founded the creative production company Forte, overseeing commercial and documentary work with clients such as Volvo, GrubHub, Mars, and Applegate. Matthew’s documentary films have garnered awards at many festivals, such as the Woodstock Film Festival and Newfest. His most recent project, Navy Beach, is a feature film starring Tim Blake Nelson.

Kel Embry – Editor
Kel is an award-winning editor who would rather brag about her dogs than brag about herself. A graduate of the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism, she honed her skills as assistant editor on the Sundance documentary BISBEE’17 (2018) under the mentorship of Robert Greene. She went on to freelance with 4th Row Films, specializing in feature documentaries and brand content, including BLOODROOT (2019), which premiered at the San Francisco International Film Festival. In her current role at the post-production studio Lucky Day, Kel works on a range of projects from social campaigns to feature-length films, and believes editing, particularly documentary editing, is a way to take “coincidences” and construct patterns that reveal a deeper story.

Make a donation to A Texas Son.

Contact

For inquiries, please contact fiscalsponsorship@filmindependent.org.