Out of Place – a short form tv-/web-series about non-binary queer immigrants in Finland

Application summary

"Rejected by their native countries and feeling homesick for a place that doesn’t exist, queer non-binary immigrants in Helsinki discover home within the community they build together." Out of Place is the first non-binary web-/TV- series ever made. Showtime’s Billions has taken the necessary first step by introducing the character of Taylor in 2017, becoming the first major program to introduce a non-binary regular. Out of Place takes it further and creates a space for non-binary people to be the main heroes in a story. Not quirky and strange sidekicks or inevitably tragic additions to the storyline, but fully-fleshed, deep characters with their own experiences, dreams, and things to complain about, who also happen to fall outside the gender binary. The characters are not just gender outcasts though, they are also mostly immigrants. There is an interesting parallel between searching for your home and searching for your identity, and the characters in Out of Place find a similar solution to both: a decision to reject what has been assigned to you and what your documents say, and creating something of your own. Focusing on Helsinki-based queer immigrants allows for a unique lense through which we want to show Finland: a place of big hopes and equally big struggles. If you still feel sad in the happiest country in the world, are there any places where you truly belong? Maybe if the world tells you you’re a bit out of place, you have to create a place of your own.