🎬 I Wish You All the Best

The film follows Ben De Backer (Corey Fogelmanis), a non-binary teenager whose world utterly shatters during their senior year of high school. When Ben musters the immense courage to come out to their deeply conservative parents, they are met with immediate, heartless rejection and thrown out of their suburban home in the middle of the night. With nowhere else to turn, Ben reaches out to their estranged older sister, Hannah (Alexandra Daddario), and her warm, supportive husband, Thomas (Cole Sprouse), whom Ben hasn't seen in nearly a decade.

Moving into Hannah and Thomas's spare bedroom, Ben is forced to navigate severe panic attacks, intense emotional trauma, and the daunting task of starting over at a new school for their final semester. Desperate to avoid further pain, Ben adopts a protective shell of silence, choosing to remain closeted to their new teachers and peers.

Ben's self-imposed isolation is gently disrupted by Nathan (Miles Gutierrez-Riley), a fiercely charismatic, funny, and openly gay classmate who takes Ben under his wing. As an unexpected and deeply empathetic friendship blossoms between the two, Nathan’s unyielding warmth coaxes Ben out of their shell. Through art, shared quiet moments, and the gradual reclamation of their own voice, Ben begins a painful but beautiful journey toward self-acceptance, healing familial fractures, and discovering a chosen family that loves them unconditionally.

💡 Production & Cultural Context 🧠
Tommy Dorfman's Directorial Debut: Best known for her breakout acting role in 13 Reasons Why, Tommy Dorfman makes a highly assured feature directorial debut here. Dorfman brought a deeply personal, protective lens to the production, ensuring that the non-binary narrative was handled with absolute authenticity and grace.

A Landmark Literary Adaptation: The film is a faithful translation of Mason Deaver’s bestselling 2019 contemporary young adult novel of the same name. Deaver’s book was widely celebrated as a milestone in queer literature for being one of the first mainstream YA novels to feature a non-binary protagonist written by a non-binary author.

Stellar Indie Ensemble: The production balances a raw, vulnerable performance from newcomer Corey Fogelmanis with seasoned indie and television talent. Cole Sprouse and Alexandra Daddario anchor the film's second half, providing a grounded, mature counterweight to the intense teen high school drama.

Listen before watching Audio feature