‘Changing shapes’: Film program empowers Berkeley High students to tell their stories

IN FOURTH GRADE, Nico Lee dressed up as Miss Hannigan, the heartless head of the orphanage in the classic Broadway musical “Annie,” for Halloween. He put together such a fabulous costume, bedecked in a dress, lipstick and a messy bun, that his mother worried her son might get teased. But she was also proud that he had no qualms about being playful about gender. 

Now the thoughtful Berkeley 15-year-old, who grew up with two moms, digs into that formative memory and riffs on what it means to become a man today in his new short film exploring masculine tropes, “Changing Shapes.”