The True Adventures of Wolfboy is a 2019 American coming-of-age fantasy film directed by Martin KrejÃÂàand written by Olivia Dufault. The film stars Jaeden Martell, Chris Messina, Eve Hewson, Chloë Sevigny, John Turturro, Nick Pulinski and Sophie Giannamore. It tells the story of a teenage boy with hypertrichosis, who leaves home to find his mother while befriending a "mermaid" transgender girl, named Aristiana.
It had its world premiere at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival on July 2, 2019, and was released on October 30, 2020, by Vertical Entertainment.
A teenage boy named Paul Harker has a skin condition that causes his skin to grow werewolf-like fur and hair all around it. He runs away from home and his father, Denny in the search for his estranged mother. After a brief stint with the exploiting amusement park owner Mr. Silk, in order to fund his travels, Paul befriends a "mermaid" transgender girl and an aspiring singer, named Aristiana, who becomes his companion as Denny, Mr. Silk and detective Pollok each pursue him.
Principal photography for the film began in mid-September 2017 in the Buffalo Niagara Region.
It had its world premiere at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival on July 2, 2019. In September 2020, Vertical Entertainment acquired U.S. distribution rights to the film. They released it on October 30, 2020.
On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The site's critics' consensus reads, "The True Adventures of Wolfboy can be frustratingly uneven, but a worthy story and compassion for its characters help make this coming-of-age story's flaws easy to forgive." Albert Nowicki of Filmawka called the film "charming", and believed it should be applauded for its inclusion of both the transgender character (Aristiana) and trans actress (Sophie Giannamore).
The True Adventures of Wolfboy was nominated for the 2021 GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Film (Limited Release).