“James had a boyfriend. My husband and I were devastated. To us, it was like a disease.”

 

“I remember telling my father one day that I was suicidal. He walked into his cabinet, took out his gun, handed it to me and said ‘show me.’”

 

How can one be gay in Middle America? When James’s father does not accept his homosexuality, he runs to San Francisco (‘the gayest city in the world’) with his boyfriend, Tyler. Rather than finding a gay community, they end up sleeping rough and struggling to make do alongside other homeless youths. What follows is a combination of hunger, loneliness, and a desperate if short-lived descent into prostitution. 

Director Susanna Helke started the American Vagabond project when she learned that 20-40% of homeless youths in big American cities identify as sexual minorities. The title of the film is an homage to Agnès Varda’s fictionalized story Vagabond (1985). A film fit for the big screen, with atmospheric camerawork and memorable music, American Vagabond was selected for the Masters section at IDFA Amsterdam 2013.