The Regretters
At centre stage sit Mikael and Orlando. Both men, now well into their 60s, share a common bond—they were men who became women and decided to change back. In this raw and candid tête-à-tête, Mikael and Orlando explore their pasts and trade war stories of their individual journeys through gender reassignment and back again. Mikael, deciding to become a woman later in life, was immediately hit with a wave of regret post-surgery and now longs to feel “whole” again. The flamboyant Orlando, one of Sweden’s first cases of gender reassignment, chooses not to live as a woman anymore, but is comfortable with the fluidity of his somewhat undefined current gender. Regretters offers a rare and penetrating look at a subject seldom talked about.
The film won the Prix Europa for best documentary in Berlin in 2010, the Swedish Academy Award (Guldbagge) for best Swedish documentary 2011 and has, besides been presented at numerous international film festivals, also been screened at The Museum of Modern Art in New York and The National Center for Contemporary Art in Moscow. Regretters also won Best Documentary at Queer Lisboa in 2010.
Director: Marcus Lindeen
Producer: Kristina Åberg
Editing: Marinella Angusti, Kristin Grundström
Cinematography: Erik Persson, Andréas Lennartsson
Music: Martin Willert
Cast: Orlando Fagin, Mikael Johansson
Production company: Atmo Media Network AB
Co-productions: Swedish Television (SVT), Finnish Television (YLE)
Funding: The Swedish Film Institute, Nordisk Film & TV Fond
