SXSW Review: Mama Bears
“Mama Bears” is both a heartbreaking and uplifting portrait of families who have had their lives thrown into turmoil on a personal and increasingly, on a legislative level. Continue reading SXSW Review: Mama Bears
Tag: Trans Rights
Exclusive Interview With Malou Reymann, Director of “A Perfectly Normal Family”
When she was 11 years old, Malou Reymann’s father transitioned to being a woman. Malou went on to study Directing Fiction at the National Film and Television School, and her semi-autobiographical debut feature film “A Perfectly Normal Family” has been inspired by her own experiences as a child. Featuring towering performances by Kaya Toft Loholt and Mikkel Boe Følsgaard, the film tells the story of eleven year old Emma who has a perfectly normal family until one day she discovers that her dad, Thomas, is transgender. As Thomas becomes Agnete, both father and daughter struggle to hold on to what they had, while accepting that everything has changed. Continue reading Exclusive Interview With Malou Reymann, Director of “A Perfectly Normal Family”
A Sort of ‘Review’ of Dollhouse: The Eradication of Female Subjectivity from American Popular Culture
After watching “Dollhouse” I was left feeling that the film was simply an excuse for Brending to express her personal grudges against the trans community. I’m not sure whether this film will hinder her career or not especially considering the current climate. However, the simple fact that it’s been made and screened at Slamdance film festival proves she’s not being oppressed. Her voice is being given a platform. How many trans filmmakers have been able to get their films made and screened at Slamdance, I wonder? Continue reading A Sort of ‘Review’ of Dollhouse: The Eradication of Female Subjectivity from American Popular Culture
The Terror of TERFs Revealed in “Midsommar’s” Summertime Setting
The last scenes of Ari Aster’s premier horror masterpiece “Hereditary” (2018) take viewers through a winding middle-American manor, with dysfunctional family dynamics incarnated as demons in the eerie night-time environment. Aster abandons this classic horror imagery for a more subversive setting in “Midsommar” (2019), where his familiar formula of manifesting the characters’ resentments towards one another as violent retribution instead takes place in the long-lasting daylight of a secluded, Scandinavian commune. Continue reading The Terror of TERFs Revealed in “Midsommar’s” Summertime Setting
Review: “Petite Fille” (“Little Girl”) #EdFilmFestAtHome
This intimate and charming documentary by French director Sébastien Lifshitz follows 7-year-old Sacha and her mother Karine. They battle for her Sacha’s acceptance as a trans girl, and for a normal childhood. With a focus on family, support and identity this is a heart-filled and compassionate film which shows audiences what life can be like for a trans child. Continue reading Review: “Petite Fille” (“Little Girl”) #EdFilmFestAtHome
Review: Disclosure
“Disclosure” is a vital, near-perfect documentary on transgender representation in film and television that is one of the most singularly cathartic viewing experiences that I as a trans person have ever experienced. Sam Feder, along with every interviewee and participant in this production (including Laverne Cox, Chaz Bono and Angelica Ross) discuss trans issues with maturity and without feeling the need to spoon-feed the basics to cis audiences. This is a film that assuages all my fears that I ask too much of the world by wanting more media made BY trans people FOR trans people. Continue reading Review: Disclosure
Sheffield Doc Fest Exclusive Review: Your Mothers Comfort (Aconchego da tua Mãe)
On the wall of a LGBTQ+ safe house called Nem House located in Rio De Janeiro are the following words: I am a Feminist Whore. This could well be the motto for the transgender political activist, Indianara Siqueira, who we follow in this documentary from filmmaker Adam Golub. Of course, Indianara is so much more than just a “feminist whore”, throughout the documentary we see countless transgendered and queer indviduals come up to her and say how much of an inspiration for her. Continue reading Sheffield Doc Fest Exclusive Review: Your Mothers Comfort (Aconchego da tua Mãe)
Review: Jack and Yaya
If this first sentence is the only part that you read of this review, please know and understand this: the world needs more stories like “Jack & Yaya”. I immediately fell in love with these people, their families, and their mid-Atlantic accents. The only issue I had with this documentary was having to watch them boil their blue crabs—pure madness! As a native Marylander, the only way to cook and eat crabs is steamed and covered in Old Bay. Nonetheless, Jack and Yaya exude pure charm and share unwavering realness in their stories, it is completely captivating. Continue reading Review: Jack and Yaya
The Matrix: Trans Empowerment
The year was 1999. I was but a mere six years old then, but I remember vividly the release of such monumental films as Stanley Kubrick’s “Eyes Wide Shut”, Paul Thomas Anderson’s behemoth masterpiece, “Magnolia”, and the first return of “Star Wars” in nearly 20 years, “Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace”. Amongst the litany of great films that year, another had come along, rich with unique tension and flavor, destined to change the very fabric of action films and blockbusters forever.
The Matrix. Continue reading The Matrix: Trans Empowerment
In Their Own League 