Finding Bernie (2026): Cast, Story and Release Details

Prepared by Movies Dock Editorial

Finding Bernie follows a non-binary film professor confronting a lifelong struggle with gender identity after their mother criticizes their painted fingernails. Their search for a childhood role model brings them into a multigenerational trans community and into conversation with a trans historian, connecting personal memory with collective experience.

Finding Bernie is a 2026 film about identity, memory and the search for representation. Its central figure is a non-binary film professor whose personal history becomes the starting point for a broader exploration of gender and community.

The story moves between past and present as the professor looks for a gender non-conforming childhood role model. Along the way, they travel with a multigenerational trans community and form a friendship with a trans historian.

Finding Bernie movie details

Story without spoilers

The film begins with a family conflict over the professor’s painted fingernails, bringing a lifelong struggle with gender identity to the surface. In response, they begin searching for Bernie, a gender non-conforming figure who served as a childhood role model.

That search expands beyond an individual quest. Traveling with a multigenerational trans community and befriending a trans historian, the professor considers how identity can be influenced by shared memory and by the stories communities preserve. Finding Bernie connects private experience with the wider political realities of trans life without revealing the outcome of the search.

What to expect

Finding Bernie is centered on gender identity, representation, collective memory and trans community. Its premise combines a personal search with encounters across generations, creating a story that links family experience to history and community life.

The film’s structure brings together past and present, while its central question concerns how people understand themselves through both personal experience and the memories of others. The supplied details identify it as a 1-hour, 42-minute film, with no genre classification provided.

Cast and creative team

Finding Bernie is directed by Shon Keane. No cast members or writers are listed in the supplied information.

Release and production context

Finding Bernie is a 2026 film with a listed release date of November 4, 2026. Its runtime is 1 hour and 42 minutes. The supplied information does not identify a country, spoken language or production company.

Movies Dock view

With its focus on a non-binary professor, a search for a gender non-conforming role model and connections across a multigenerational trans community, Finding Bernie frames identity as both personal and shared. The film’s premise also places history at the center of that process, linking individual memory with broader community experience.

Film data:
TMDB · IMDb