A hilarious, touching and intelligent drama! The canadian series Sort of, broadcast this Sunday at 11:05 p.m. on Téva and available in full on 6play, follows the irresistible existential quest of Sabi, a young person living in Toronto, trying to find the balance between her non-binary identity, her position as a child of Pakistani immigrants, her job behind the counter of an LGBTQ + bar and her role as a nanny in a family of hipsters.
A story of passage to adulthood where Sabi tries to “define who he really is and to blossom”, sums up the playwright Bilal Baig, co-creator and main performer of this 8×30 minute wonder of humanity, presented in the International Panorama section during the last edition of the Séries Mania festival.
“The main character does not worry about his genre or his cultural heritage, however. It’s just part of the character. He has many other matters of concern: his relationships with his mother, his career, his romantic relationships, those with his friends, ”Bilal Baig explains. A joyously messy daily life where an unfaithful ex-cis (that is to say non-trans), a mother meet control freak from whom Sabi hides a lot of things or a best friend (Amanda Cordner) who wants to move to Berlin, the queer capital par excellence.
A nanny with a “political dimension”
“Berlin is truly a fantasy. Many queer friends of Toronto have never set foot there, but have heard wonderful things about this city, which seems to be a place of liberation, where you can be exactly who you are, ”says Bilal Baig .
Sadly, the mother of the children Sabi takes care of is the victim of a terrible bicycle accident and falls into a coma. Sabi gives up leaving to take care of Violet and Henry. “I was a nanny for a little over a year. I don’t think I was great, but one thing I brought from this experience to Sabi is that they see children as people who have the ability to choose what is best for them. He does not talk to them with condescension, ”comments Bilal Baig.
And to add: “I think it’s very strong to have Sabi as a nanny. There is a political dimension to this, even if that is not quite the original intention. It’s wonderful to show the image of someone like Sabi as someone who takes care of children and treats them really well. “
A gallery of characters “going through a transition”
Sort of is a pioneering series. Sabi is the first non-binary main character in Canadian television history, while Bilal Baig is the first queer and Muslim person to star in a Canadian television series while taking charge of writing and production.
Sort Of deals with transition in all areas of life. With Fab Filippo, co-creator of the series, “we started with this idea of watching all of our characters going through a transition, and it feels different to each person. Our world sees some transitions as acceptable, others more taboo. We wanted to give the same level of compassion and love to all of these transitions, ”says Bilal Baig. A successful bet for this series full of delicacy and nuance.