Logline

Mark Palmer, a Jamaican youth struggles with his repressed sexual identity, risks friendship, security and family while coming of age in a country where being gay is not only criminalized but can be a death sentence.

In Jamaican Patois, batty bwoy (also batty boy, batty man, and chi chi bwoy/man) is a slur often used to refer to a gay or effeminate man. The term derives from the Jamaican slang word batty, which refers to buttocks. It is a slur and considered offensive. Certain forms of Jamaican music feature both homophobic and extremely violent themes. One such example of this is the 1992 dancehall hit "Boom Bye Bye" by Buju Banton, which contains lyrics that advocate the killing of gay men.

BATTY BWOY! chronicles Mark’s struggles with toxic masculinity, homophobia, accepting himself to deciding on the life he wants and deserves that is worth living. The story begins from Mark’s impressionable teenage years through his burgeoning adulthood as he navigates Jamaica's homophobic society. It can be interpreted in a multitude of ways. There are secondary themes that explore class, race and nationality and the uniqueness of growing up Jamaican. Many people, Black, Caribbean and queer, and those who are not, can find something in this film that will resonate and speak to them, as its core universal theme looks at one’s search for self and love in a space that does not foster that.