My Way
Gender and Identity in British Cinema

Dream Girls

Director: Kim Longinotto, Jano Williams
Cast: Miki Maya, Anju Mira
United Kingdom, 1994, 50’, color
English with Turkish subtitles

This fascinating documentary, produced for the BBC, opens a door into the spectacular world of the Takarazuka Revue, a highly successful musical theater company in Japan. Each year, thousands of girls apply to enter the male-run Takarazuka Music School. The few who are accepted endure years of a highly disciplined and reclusive existence before they can join the Revue, choosing male or female roles. Dream Girls offers a compelling insight into gender and sexual identity and the contradictions experienced by Japanese women today.