"Dissolving Borders, Queering Reality!
Being the type of person with a wide variety of interests, I often miss phenomenal projects while enthralled elsewhere. For quite a while I've had any media that touches on gender identity or provides some glimpse of transgender life, on my radar, including Orange is the New Black, Transparent, I am Jazz, I am Cait, and HerStory. Something that I can't believe I somehow have missed the last couple years is the Imperfectu International Film and Gender Festival.
I was lucky to run across Imperfectu since I rarely think to search for film festivals in general, but this one just grabbed me. One of the hardest things to convey about being transgender is how much it effects my day to day life. Simply knowing someone identifies as a gender differing from their biological sex at birth, while sometimes being focused on, is not enough to get an idea of what it's like to 'put it all out there' and interact with society daily. Even the small tasks like going to the store can sometimes be an anxious experience.
Some of the transgender related shows I mentioned provided some of the 'behind the scenes' issues we deal with like the complexity of dating, anxiety on how people view me (or how I feel I pass) to simply trying to explain those inner feeling that have lead me down this path. Transparent, I am Jazz and HerStory did a great job of this in particular.
This is why I was thrilled to run across the Imperfectu: International Film and Gender Festival! Just what I've seen so far in there does such a great job highlighting many of the unseen issues transgender people face, from a realistic point of view. Not everything can be fairies, unicorns and happy endings, especially with sad state of transgender statistics including violent acts, discrimination, murder and suicide rates.
Neighbors Trailer from Rachel Goldberg on Vimeo.
This quote from the Imperfectu website perfectly describes their focus:
International Film and Gender Studies Festival explores the infinite possibilities that the fields of sex, gender and sexuality offer, questioning the primacy of conventions we are limited to by the gender binary system and heteronormativity.
Living in the USA it's easy to forget how rough being LGBT can be for those in the international community as a whole. Many countries are far more conservative than what I personally am commonly exposed to here. I love how this film festival lets me glimpse myself as well as have resources to share with others to give a better idea of what my LGBT brothers and sisters (or whatever non-binary term may apply) have to face in their countries.
Un Buen Hijo / A Good Son from luis montijo on Vimeo.
Even their in depth mission which enhances LGBT awareness and understanding is beautifully stated as:
Through film, art, and gender studies, Imperfectu: International Film and Gender Festival celebrates and examines the diversity of gender identities and expressions, as well as of sexual identities and orientations, while embracing varied and alternative feminisms.
Imperfectu explores the infinite possibilities that sex, gender and sexuality fields offer to us, questioning the primacy of the conventions to which the binary gender system and heteronormativity limit us. Furthermore, this festival gives room to feminist expressions that know how to include these infinite possibilities in their discourses.
-Source
I plan to keep digging into the previous films from the Imperfectu: International Film and Gender Festival which started in Tijuana, Mexico and has been running for a couple years now. Maybe if I'm lucky I'll be able to get an opportunity to actually attend the festival in person in the not so far off future.
I'd love to hear from any readers if you've heard of other transgender specific shows, documentaries or movies that may help to provide awareness or understanding of what life is like for us by tossing it in a comment below.
Additional Reading and Media:
Imperfectu Film Festival
Her Story
Transparent
I am Jazz