“A parallel coming of age story” is the way Andrew Durham describes the movie Fairyland, which he directed and Sofia Coppola produced. Adapted from Alysia Abbott’s memoir of her father, the writer Steve Abbott, Fairyland begins with the death of her mother, Barbara, followed by Steve and Alysia’s move to bohemian San Francisco. It’s the 1970s and Steve (Scoot McNairy), who has previously identified as bisexual, can now live a gay life. The household, however, is unconventional. “Why do you only have boyfriends,” the young Alysia asks her dad, “and never girlfriends?” The movie captures a time and place when values were changing. It must also confront the specter of AIDS in the 1980s. Durham pays tribute to love and resilience in the face of adversity and tragedy. —Frankie Budworth
Arts Intel Report
Fairyland

Scoot McNairy and Nessa Dougherty in Fairyland.
Courtesy of Sundance Institute