Kaya Dillon didn’t set out to become a filmmaker.

In 2009, while studying geography and religious studies at Cal Poly Humboldt University, Dillon traveled to Tibet for a self-directed thesis project. It was there, camera in hand, that something shifted.

“That was really my first experience of running around with the camera, gaining a story, getting firsthand accounts of different cultures and different experiences,” Dillon said. “And that's what really drove me to that end of the film industry.”

Today, Dillon’s latest work is in the global spotlight. His short documentary Fox Chase Boy—a raw, haunting portrait of trauma, performance, and survival—was released worldwide on May 7 by The Guardian, following a successful festival run that began with its world premiere in the Czech Republic last fall.

“We are lifted by the film fellowship we’ve made and grown with along the way, and forever grounded in the community of Fox Chase, Philadelphia that has carried us from day one in this work,” read a statement from the production team on the film’s Facebook page.

For Dillon, the moment brings celebration, reflection—and a deep sense of complexity.

“There's these experiences and having these red carpet moments in Europe and being on a global platform and watching the views go up in the thousands and people interacting with your art in a really impactful way,” Dillon said. “But then there's also this sort of tension of coming back to earth and remembering where this all comes from…which ultimately is a lot of pain and a lot of tragedy.”

The 26-minute documentary is based on the one-man show of the same name by writer and performer Gerad Argeros. The show blends comedy and performance art with a searing account of Argeros’ childhood in the tight-knit Fox Chase neighborhood of Northeast Philadelphia.

In the 1980s, he served as an altar boy at St. Cecilia’s Catholic Church. There, he was sexually abused by the Rev. James Brzyski—one of the abusers named in a 2005 grand jury report, which found that hundreds of altar boys were victimized by dozens of priests in the Philadelphia Archdiocese.

Argeros went public with his story in 2017, first in The Philadelphia Inquirer. Two years later, he began developing Fox Chase Boy for the stage—just as he met Dillon, whose résumé by then included major studio credits and documentary work.

“We met because we had children at the same school,” said Dillon, a native of New York. “Gerad was beginning to create these really raw, wide ranging cover and confrontational comedic performances in this community around this really sensitive subject. He wanted to capture them.”

Dillon brought years of technical expertise to the project. After graduating from Cal Poly Humboldt in 2010, he returned to New York to pursue film work. He started as a production assistant, then moved into lighting on major film sets before transitioning into cinematography.

“I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do,” Dillon said. “I just had a really powerful experience using the camera in Tibet. I was just interested, but not really sure where I fit in that world.”

Eventually, he shot projects like Radical Love, a documentary produced by Academy Award winner Caroline Waterlow and featured by The New Yorker. He also collaborated with Waterlow on Vow of Silence: The Assassination of Annie Mae, a true-crime docuseries now streaming on Hulu.

By the time he met Argeros in 2019, Dillon had just returned from Kazakhstan, where he had filmed interviews with Uyghur refugees who survived cultural genocide in China. That project became All Static and Noise, a film still touring festivals worldwide.

“I worked in really traumatic spaces with subjects or protagonists for years where there's not a lot of journalistic distinction between myself and the people on screen,” Dillon said. “[Gerad’s story] seemed really important, especially as somebody who is raising a young boy at the same time, it seemed like a conversation that was kind of urgent for me and myself to sort of articulate and understand more about.”

At first, Dillon and a small crew simply recorded Argeros’ performances in community spaces—firehouses, bars, and other venues. But the project evolved.

“As this story was unfolding in real time, it sort of naturally evolved into a bigger piece that was really a snapshot of how he was using performance to tackle these issues [and how the performance] was having an impact in the community [in which] these tragedies occurred,” Dillon said.

The Fox Chase of the film is unmistakably working class—defined by football, faith, and Philly staples like cheesesteaks. Dillon used Super 8 film to evoke a sense of nostalgia, and included archival footage of the Eagles and Phillies throughout.

In an interview with Adriana Imhof of Media Impact Funders, Argeros said, the sports footage had an additional purpose.

“I had an agenda, especially with men,” Argeros said in the interview. “If I can get men to drop whatever the idea of their butchness is, and what they do and don’t talk about, and if I have to fucking sandwich them in between a Phillies’ World Series and an Eagle’s Super bowl, then I’m not above that.”

The emotional stakes are clear. Three of Argeros’ childhood friends who were also abused have since died. Jimmy Spoerl died in 2016 after years of drug addiction. John Delaney, who appears in the film, died in 2022.

“John, who's featured really prominently in the film. He died…And I feel like we made the film for him,” Dillon said. “It's like when we were packaging and making this film and thinking about incorporating the Eagles and the music and everything that is in the film — we made it for the people who are still supposed to be here.”

Fox Chase Boy marks Dillon’s directorial debut. Its message of “survival through agency” has resonated with audiences around the world. Dillon said he’s also found strength in the documentary filmmaking community.

“The independent documentary structure, the framework that exists around this art form is really energizing,” Dillon said. “ It's been really inspiring seeing how the independent documentary world is really healthy in spite of everything that's happening in the news every day.”

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