Ladies Illuminate Program #2

Mistake

Written and Directed By Honey Lauren

Synopsis: In 1941, a baby is born between the sexes, and the family must choose: boy or girl? The doctors call it Adrenogenital Syndrome—intersex, sexually ambiguous. The mother calls it “the devil’s work.” Larry Benson, assigned by his father to live as male, is the son of a tobacco farmer. Since the age of twelve, weekly testosterone shots have left Larry powerful, small, and quick to anger—always ready to throw the first punch.

Now thirty, Larry works on his family’s tobacco farm. He keeps to himself, his rough exterior guarding a deep self-loathing—with one exception: Lily, his childhood best friend and first love. Open-hearted and unguarded, Lily accepts Larry as he is. Her love offers him a glimpse of peace and the possibility of belonging he’s never known.

But when an act of violence tears that fragile world apart, Larry finds himself in jail—and suddenly cut off from the hormones that have defined his existence. As his body and identity shift, Larry is forced to confront who he truly is beneath years of shame and denial.

MISTAKE is an unflinching, deeply human portrait of identity, repression, and the struggle to reclaim one’s sense of self in a world that refuses to understand.

Website | @mistake_film_

Honey Lauren (Writer/Director) is an award-winning writer, director, and actress with over 100 film and television credits and dozens of commercials.

As an actor, she has appeared in Francis Ford Coppola’s DRACULA, HBO’s DEADWOOD, and starred in the cult classic MEN CRY BULLETS, praised by Roger Ebert as “the best cult film of the future.”

Lauren’s short films have earned widespread acclaim—DOT GOT SHOT won five major festival awards, including the Woman with a Vision Award, while HAPPY HANDS, her documentary with Tippi Hedren, won six awards and qualified for the Academy Awards. Her short WIVES OF THE SKIES garnered over forty international honors and was distributed worldwide by Hewes Pictures.

Her screenwriting has been recognized by the Austin Film Festival and Slamdance, among others. Her debut feature, MISTAKE, produced by Brad Wyman (MONSTER), marks her boldest work to date—continuing her commitment to complex, character-driven stories told with empathy and vision.

 Jaime Gallagher (Producer) is an accomplished actress, casting director and producer best known for her recent work on the the compelling drama Mistake (currently on the festival circuit), the Sundance 2025 Grand Jury Prize Dramatic Nominee Sunfish (& Other Stories on Green Lake), the sci-fi dramedy We’re All Gonna Die, a SXSW 2024 Official Selection and the horror comedy Fear, Inc., Tribeca 2016. During her 25-plus year career, she has worked with countless names and recognizable faces as well as up-and-comers on more than 30 features, with the majority of these films going on to enjoy great festival runs, awards and distribution. Additionally, Jaime has worked on multiple shorts, several pilots and series, commercials, industrials and an IMAX-sponsored television series for PBS that aired on more than 70 stations nationwide, which featured interviews she personally booked with the likes of Burt Reynolds, Wes Craven, Danny Boyle, J.J. Abrams, Leonard Maltin, Beau Willimon and many more. Jaime is also a longtime member of both SAG-AFTRA and CSA.