A Kid Like Jake

Director: Silas Howard
Screenwriters: Daniel Pearle

Institute History

  • 2018 Sundance Film Festival

Description

Loving parents Alex (Claire Danes) and Greg (Jim Parsons) are faced with the daunting task of applying to private kindergartens in NYC for their 4-year-old, Jake. Competing in this cutthroat environment means focusing on what is most unique about a child, forcing Alex and Greg to consider Jake’s love of dresses, fairy tales, and princesses. These qualities never seemed unusual before, but when Jake begins to act out in preschool, Alex and Greg—suddenly at odds—must find a way to support Jake’s identity without losing each other in the process.

Exciting filmmaker Silas Howard returns to the Sundance Film Festival—after years of directing boundary-pushing TV series like Transparent and This Is Us—with a sharply observed feature expanding the vital conversation around gender identity today. Pitch-perfect performances from Danes and Parsons balance the relentless competitive drive of New Yorkers with the brutal honesty needed to keep a family together. Stellar supporting actors Amy Landecker, Ann Dowd, Priyanka Chopra, and Octavia Spencer bring humor and energy to the film, along with unexpected revelations about the characters and the world they inhabit.

— L.C.

Screening Details

Credits

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