# I Don't Know Who You Are

I Don't Know Who You Are is a 2023 Canadian drama film, written, directed, and edited by M. H. Murray. Murray's full-length directorial debut, the film stars Mark Clennon as Benjamin, a gay working class musician who is urgently trying to find $1,000 to pay for post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) to protect himself from HIV after he is sexually assaulted by a stranger.
The film premiered in the Discovery program at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival, before being picked up for theatrical distribution in 2024.

## Plot

Over the course of one weekend, a gay working class musician named Benjamin must urgently scrape together $1,000 to pay for post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) to protect himself from HIV after he is sexually assaulted by a stranger.

## Cast

* Mark Clennon as Benjamin
* Anthony Diaz as Malcolm
* Nat Manuel as Ariel
* Deragh Campbell as Agnes
* Victoria Long as Lola
* Kevin A. Courtney as Oscar
* Michael Hogan as The Man
* Grace E. McDonald as Benjamin's mother, Angela
* Radcliffe Goldbourne as Benjamin's father, Marcus
* Randy Davis as Carl from the HIV clinic
* Cheryl Wagner as The Emergency Room Doctor
* Chris Wong as The Pharmacist
* Lawrene Denkers as Melanie
* Peyton McLean as Terrence
* Ilgi Bodan as Cassandra
* Nileigh Bodan as Tabetha
* David Draper as Paul
* Felicia Morrison as Anne
* Erik Berg as The Security Guard
* Denzel Grant as Ed
Health care workers depicted in the film are portrayed by real medical professionals involved in HIV treatment and advocacy.

## Production

Benjamin is a reprisal of the same character Clennon previously played in Murray's 2020 short film Ghost. The screenplay is based in part on Murray's own experience having to navigate the health care system to attain PEP treatment after being sexually assaulted.
The film was co-produced by Murray and Clennon, with Martine Brouillet and Victoria Long, while Clennon and Long also served as story editors for the screenplay.
In an essay for CBC Arts, Murray described the process of making the film on a limited budget, particularly in having to shoot many of its scenes guerrilla-style without permits.

## Distribution

The film premiered in the Discovery program at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival. In March 2024, the film screened at the 38th annual BFI Flare in London.
The film was picked up for distribution after its TIFF premiere, and later had a limited theatrical release in Canada and the United States in 2024.

## Critical response

I Don’t Know Who You Are has received generally positive reviews from film critics, with particular praise for Clennon's lead performance. Critics have drawn comparisons between I Don’t Know Who You Are and Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962), Uncut Gems (2019), and Never Rarely Sometimes Always (2020).
Barry Hertz of The Globe and Mail ranked the film 7th on his list of the top 10 Canadian films of 2023, describing the film as "a tremendously tense portrait of small-scale desperation" and "a seriously impressive micro-budget debut".
Adam Nayman, writing for the Toronto Star, called the film “deeply affecting” and wrote that "Murray’s movie transforms its furtive production circumstances into a fully realized style. Instead of showing the city off, it cultivates a dizzy dislocation — the paranoid sensation of being surrounded at all times without necessarily feeling connected, or of anxious walks home under flickering street-lights."
Vadim Rizov of Filmmaker Magazine felt that some scenes were “overly attenuated” but concluded that the film is "a solid feature debut" with “a strong sense of a particular micro-milieu."
Angelo Muredda of Cinema Scope described the film as "an empathetic character study that effectively balances its punchy genre elements with its human drama."

## Accolades

| Year | Association | Category | Nominee(s) | Result |
| 2023 | Calgary International Film Festival | $10,000 RBC Emerging Artist Award | M. H. Murray | Nominated |
| 2024 | Riviera International Film Festival | Best Film | M. H. Murray | Nominated |
| 2024 | Connecticut LGBTQ Film Festival | Rising Star Award | M. H. Murray | Won |