Billy Porter’s Directorial Debut Showcases Queer Joy

Billy Porter’s directorial debut, Anything’s Possible,released on July 22 on Amazon Prime. The film, written by Ximena García Lecuona, follows the story of Kelsa, a confident trans girl navigating her senior year of high school, and Khal, the boy who develops a crush on her and asks her out despite the drama it causes. 

Billy Porter is best known for his acting work, famously portraying Pray Tell on Pose, but the Emmy award-winning actor isn’t on screen in this film. In an interview with Variety, Porter says, “I ain’t Barbra Streisand yet. It’s like, let me do one thing at a time. Let me direct something first. Then I’ll direct something and be in it too.”

Some critics have felt that the film is too light on conflict and that it never really reaches the full potential of what it could have been. Others are delighted to see a film that is about queer joy, especially as the few trans narratives that do find larger platforms are overwhelmingly about the trauma of being trans. It seems Porter is proud of the joy he depicts.

“This is an aspirational story,” he says. “It’s almost like a fairytale. We know that. It’s a look at what we can be. That’s what we as artists get to do—Look at what we can be and what we should be.”

The film may not be perfect—not that any film can be—but it is both important and impactful. Creatives like Porter prioritizing showcasing queer joy is one of the only defenses there are against LGBTQ youth feeling hopeless about their future.

The onslaught of legislation around the country that seeks to promote an anti-LGBTQ agenda is thoroughly disheartening, but films like Anything’s Possible remind us of how far we’ve come and provide hope for a brighter future. Anything’s Possible won’t be Porter’s last project as a director; he’s been confirmed as the director of Camp for HBO Max and an episode of Fox’s true crime anthology Accused. 

Photo courtesy of Anything’s Possible on Facebook