Trans In Film and Video 2/7/22
Ivory Aquino
Batgirl, the upcoming HBO Max feature film, has cast Ivory Aquino to play the first ever transgender character in a live-action DC Comics feature movie. The Philippines-born actresses character is Alysia Yeoh — the best friend of Batgirl, a.k.a. Barbara Gordon — in the project. The Yeoh character is also transgender and made her debut as the first major transgender character in 2011 in a DC comic book. Aquino will join a star studded cast, including Leslie Grace as Batgirl, Brendan Fraser as the film’s villain, J.K. Simmons as Batgirl’s father, and Michael Keaton reprises Batman decades after he first appeared in Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman flick. The film is currently in production and a release date hasn’t been announce
The Daily Mail reports that U.S. film producers are moving forward with a web series featuring characters from the Harry Potter films and many of the roles will be played by trans and nonbinary actors. They definitely want to cast a transgender or gender non-conforming actor to play Harry’s mom. Reading the report the details included seem to indicate the series will be a prequel to the story told in the Harry Potter films. There is no word on what Potter creator J.K. Rowling thinks of the project but The Daily Mail feels the producers should be prepared to fight a lawsuit from her.
Film Festivals News
Dudley Dursley
In the early films of the Harry Potter series Dudley Dursley was young Harry’s nemesis while he was forced to live in the broom closet under the stairs. Dudley was played by Harry Melling in five of the Potter films. Other actors who have played minor roles in major films have found themselves forever typecast and left out when better parts are cast. Melling somehow avoided that fate and has had several scene-stealing roles in a string of films. He’s currently appearing in The Tragedy of Macbeth on Apple TV. What does the former Dudley have to do with the trans community? He has a role in a film that debuted as the opener of the 2022 International Film Festival Rotterdam. It’s called Please Baby Please and Melling stars as Arthur, a married man in the 1950s, who finds himself questioning his gender identity. For more on the film visit The Hollywood Reporter.
Dos Estaciones is a Mexican film that debuted at the Sundance Film Festival. The focus of the film is a Mexican woman owns a tequila factory and her business is in trouble. A fungus is destroying her agave plants and foreign producers threaten her ability to deliver her artisan product. At one point in the film she goes to a salon and a transgender woman named Tatin does her hair. The plot veers away from the tequila maker at that point and follow Tatin for awhile. The picture won the festival’s World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for acting.
If you are a transgender filmmaker in India and you have a short film ready to go you have until February 28 to submit it for the third national-level transgender short film festival sponsored by the Madurai-based Transgender Resource Centre. Films can be between five and fifteen minutes in length and the festival will be March 11 and 12. Get entry details from The Times of India.
Small Screen
Hari Nef as Rabbi Jen.
And Just Like That which cast trans actor Hari Nef as a trans rabbi named Jen had its finale last week. Charlotte’s child came out to her as nonbinary and did not want to have a bat mitzvah. Charlotte wants her child to be raised in the Jewish faith and tries to compromise with a “they-mitzvah”. The child, formerly Rose, now answering to Rock, wants nothing to do with any mitzvah. Rabbi Jen is called upon to find a solution that satisfies everyone. The show also features a nonbinary character, Che Diaz, who is a standup comic and podcast host. They also become a romantic interest for Miranda. Che is played by nonbinary Tony Award-winner Sara Ramirez. The whole series is available now on HBO Max. Learn more about Hari Nef and the real life transgender rabbi her character is based on from Distractify.
Category: Transgender Fun & Entertainment
About the Author (Author Profile)
Angela Gardner is a founding member of The Renaissance Transgender Assoc., Inc., former editor of its newsletter and magazine, Transgender Community News. She was the Diva of Dish for TGF in the late 1990s and Editor of LadyLike magazine until its untimely demise. She has appeared in film and television shows portraying TG characters, as well as representing Renaissance on numerous talk shows.Subscribe
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