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'Boy Erased' Captivates Audience at the Winter 2018 KCET Cinema Series

November 1, 2018
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Following a screening of “Boy Erased,” director/writer/producer/co-star Joel Edgerton, author Garrard Conley and his mother Martha Conley attended a Q&A hosted by Cinema Series host Pete Hammond. Based on the 2016 memoir of Garrard Conley, this true story tells the courageous struggle of a young man (Lucas Hedges), the son of a Baptist pastor in a small Arkansas town, who must overcome the fallout of being revealed as a homosexual to his parents (Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe). His parents struggle with reconciling their love for their son with their beliefs. Fearing a loss of family, friends, and community, he is pressured into attending a conversion therapy program. While there, he comes into conflict with its leader (Joel Edgerton) and begins his journey to finding his own voice and accepting his true self.

Garrard Conley is a conversion therapy survivor. His experience took place fourteen years ago and led him to write the book "Boy Erased: A Memoir." The book was nominated for a Lamdba Literary Award and was featured as a top 2016 nonfiction book by O Magazine, Buzzfeed Books, and Shelf Awareness, among others. This widely read book has now been translated in over a dozen languages.

Conley hopes the "Boy Erased" film continues the important message of his memoir. Conley is currently an activist and speaker for Penguin Random House Speakers Bureau. He lectures at schools and organizations across the country as well as abroad on radical compassion, writing through trauma, and growing up gay.

Joel Edgerton was born in Blacktown, New South Wales. He attended the Nepean Drama School in western Sydney before transitioning into stage and screen roles. Edgerton launched his film career with "Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones" and "Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith," portraying a young Owen Lars, stepbrother of Anakin Skywalker and uncle to Luke Skywalker.

Recently, Edgerton started production on Netflix’s "The King." The film, directed by David Michod, is a modern-day adaptation of the Shakespearean play. He will co-write and star in the film, opposite "Timothee Chalamet."

"Boy Erased" is Edgerton’s second directorial feature film and will be released in theaters by Focus Features.

Browse photos and listen to the Q&A from the screening below.

Cinema Series host Pete Hammond, Author Garrard Conley and Martha Conley and Director/Writer/Producer/Co-Star Joel Edgerton after a screening of "Boy Erased"
Cinema Series host Pete Hammond, Author Garrard Conley and Martha Conley and Director/Writer/Producer/Co-Star Joel Edgerton after a screening of "Boy Erased"
1/3 Cinema Series host Pete Hammond, Author Garrard Conley and Martha Conley and Director/Writer/Producer/Co-Star Joel Edgerton after a screening of "Boy Erased"
Cinema Series host Pete Hammond, Director/Writer/Producer/Co-Star Joel Edgerton, Author Garrard Conley and Martha Conley after a screening of "Boy Erased"
Cinema Series host Pete Hammond, Director/Writer/Producer/Co-Star Joel Edgerton, Author Garrard Conley and Martha Conley after a screening of "Boy Erased"
2/3 Cinema Series host Pete Hammond, Director/Writer/Producer/Co-Star Joel Edgerton, Author Garrard Conley and Martha Conley after a screening of "Boy Erased"
Cinema Series host Pete Hammond with Director/Writer/Producer/Co-Star Joel Edgerton after a screening of "Boy Erased"
Cinema Series host Pete Hammond with Director/Writer/Producer/Co-Star Joel Edgerton after a screening of "Boy Erased"
3/3 Cinema Series host Pete Hammond with Director/Writer/Producer/Co-Star Joel Edgerton after a screening of "Boy Erased"

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