So I’m kind of intentionally pushing back on that. I feel like putting an expectation that because I’m coming from a marginalized community that I shouldn’t take narrative risks is really disenfranchising to me as a creative. I recognize that right now, in terms of where we are culturally, I think people are surprised that I would want to take a risk and do a kind of a daring movie - but I really believe in it and taking that risk. I don’t want to be hemmed in by doing the the expected and sort of acceptable, respectability politic, 101 story right now. And as a trans filmmaker, I want to take risks. But I feel like it’s really necessary to tell a complicated story at this point in time. I recognize it’s kind of the next level up, it’s certainly jumping way past the 101 version of this story. ![]() And I knew it was going to be a challenge because it’s such an unusual story, but I really wanted to lean into that challenge, as a filmmaker, as a trans person who’s telling stories. When I read the script, it got so stuck in my head and I couldn’t stop thinking about it to such an extent that I just knew it was kind of calling me to make it. What made you feel like this story was one that you wanted to tell? It’s not a story that we’ve really seen before and it’s taking some real risks in the way that it’s presenting the queer community. Ariel’s book has raised a fair amount of controversy for its depiction of a cishet man as a furtive interloper in queer culture. And it’s kind of threading that needle, that’s what I was trying to do. This movie is kind of a thought experiment for me to try to reach a very inside audience and also a very outside audience at the same time. And that by telling them from an authentic, inside place you actually can connect with more people by being authentic. I’m not watering down stories or specific identities or queer and trans lives. I generally subscribe to “the more specific, the more universal” - that adage about storytelling, I really believe in it. I really wanted to be able to hold both audiences - a really wide audience from people who were really familiar with insider culture and who had been a part of those worlds, as well as people who know nothing about those worlds. And this story presented such a unique, backdoor way into that. ![]() Well, for starters, I think the film was written with that in mind by Ariel Schrag, but for me as a trans filmmaker, I’ve always been looking for new and different approaches to deal with stories about both trans people and outsiders in general. Can you tell me a little bit about wanting to have the movie be so much from the perspective of the community? Part of what is exciting about the movie is it feels like such an insider look at trans and queer culture.
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