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Don't Call Me Cute
(2016)

Documentary

36 minutes

Director: July Shlez

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He calls himself TRA. He is 13, and he always was a little different. People tried to tame him. They hurt him quite a bit. “I was a fat kid who loved to daydream and draw fairies instead of playing soccer, and no one wanted to play with me. They bullied me, and then the monsters came out.” It was out of this pain that he discovered the power of art. He’s been drawing monsters ever since, though he later added other characters as well. At age ten, he defied a world that pushes us to perfection by creating the iconic character “Botox”, and became part of the artistic community that chooses the street as its canvas.
Armed with the belief that art will save the world, just like it saved him from himself, he discovers the hope and strength hidden deep inside him.

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