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About The Film

Directed By Drew Denny | 2024 | 53 min

Did you know that clownfish change sex from male to female? (So if Nemo’s mom had died in real life, his dad would have become his mom!) Did you know that albatross, penguins and swans parent in same sex pairs? Or that bonobos, who are just as closely related to us as chimps, are matriarchal and have same-sex sex every day?

Debunking myths that females are “inferior” and being queer is “unnatural,” Second Nature follows trans trailblazer Evolutionary Biologist Dr. Joan Roughgarden as she meets groundbreaking scientists exploring the 1500+ animal species who engage in same-sex sexual behavior and parenting, change sex, form matriarchies, and more.

Screenwriting by Drew Denny | Executive Produced by Megan Ellison, Elliot Page, Matt Jordan Smith | Produced by Drew Denny | With Jennifer Steinman-Sternin | Starring Elliot Page, Dr Joan Roughgarden, Dr Patricia Brennan, Dr Amy Parish, Dr Joseph Graves, Dr Frans de Waal, River Suh 

About The Director

A Sundance Lab Fellow and Grantee, Drew Denny is passionate about representing women and LGBTQ+ characters onstage and screen. Harper’s Bazaar called her one-woman-show turned Academy Award-nominated podcast Asking For It “a Fleabag fix in a post-Fleabag world,” and her first feature earned her a spot in The Advocate’s “40 Under 40," where she was named “an auteur to watch.” Her action-comedy Momster, starring Amanda Plummer and Brianna Hildebrand, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and was called “Tarantino and Nicolas Refn’s queer feminist love child.” In 2024, she is releasing her documentary Second Nature, narrated by Elliot Page, as well as a feature doc following survivors of domestic violence. In 2025, she will release a comedy about two girls who escape from a doomsday sex cult, a mockumentary about the evils of drag queen nuns, and a music-driven rom com with writer/producer Jaclyn Moore.