Savannah Knoop

A young woman named Savannah Knoop spends six years pretending to be a transgender writer named JT Leroy, the made-up literary persona of her sister-in-law.

New York magazine’s October 2005 issue sent shockwaves through the literary world when it unmasked “it boy” wunderkind JT LeRoy, whose tough prose about his sordid childhood had captivated icons and luminaries internationally. It turned out LeRoy didn’t actually exist. He was dreamed up by 40-year-old San Francisco punk rocker and phone sex operator, Laura Albert.

A feature documentary about the writer JT LeRoy - Ethically charged, controversial, and confusing, JT’s life and death sprang open a Pandora’s box of powerful questions about literature and culture, identity and celebrity, and the reality of the society we live in. Fraud? Art? Mental illness? Complicity? The Cult of JT Leroy will be a testament to this bizarre and elaborate story that has captured the attention and fascination of the world’s media, and perplexes to this day.

The literary persona JT LeRoy visiting Stockholm, Sweden in 2002, on a promotion tour for the novel "Sarah". Framed by footage of US highways and Heaviness "Curtains of Rain".

Enter JOAN, a warm, eccentric and sporting writer, and LUIS. The exchange becomes a dance between strangers of assumptions and moral calculations. Directed and written by Savannah Knoop. Produced by Jed Root. Starring Alessandro Magania.

A young woman named Savannah Knoop spends six years pretending to be a transgender writer named JT Leroy, the made-up literary persona of her sister-in-law.

Enter JOAN, a warm, eccentric and sporting writer, and LUIS. The exchange becomes a dance between strangers of assumptions and moral calculations. Directed and written by Savannah Knoop. Produced by Jed Root. Starring Alessandro Magania.