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About Hedwig and the Angry Inch

With this boundary-breaking, trailblazing musical extravaganza, writer-director-star John Cameron Mitchell and composer-lyricist Stephen Trask bring their critically acclaimed off-Broadway rock theater hit to the screen for a film as unclassifiable as its protagonists. Raised a boy in East Berlin, Hedwig (Mitchell) undergoes a traumatic personal transformation in order to emigrate to the U.S., where she reinvents herself as an "internationally ignored" but divinely talented rock diva, characterized by Mitchell as inhabiting a "beautiful gender of one." Hedwig's story is told through an eclectic assortment of original punk anthems and power ballads by Trask, and paired with a freewheeling cinematic mosaic of music-video fantasies, animated interludes, and moments of bracing emotional realism. [95 min; musical, drama, comedy; English and German with English subtitles]

Did you know?! IU alumna Harriet Newman Leve was one of the producers that brought Hedwig to Broadway in 2014; the production went on to win four Tony Awards.

"Mitchell gives this post-punk, neo-glam rock extravaganza everything in his loaded arsenal of talents. He gets the sound right, the look right, the fun right and—this is crucial—the pain right." — Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

"Builds into a moment of such gorgeous rocking that you truly lose yourself in some musical otherworld you never dreamed you'd reach in current films." — Kim Morgan, Portland Oregonian

"Mitchell's performance and Stephen Trask's incredibly touching tracks allow for delirious cinematic spectacle. Mitchell's Hedwig... remains one of cinema's most heartbroken and heartbreaking cinematic chanteuses." — Nicholas Bell, IONCINEMA.com

Any film screened at IU Cinema may contain content that viewers find sensitive or upsetting. Visit our Audience Advisories page to learn more.