Trans In Film and Video 4/29/24

In the Netflix series Baby Reindeer a comedian working in a pub (because there’s no money in comedy when you’re just starting out) offers a cup of tea to a crying woman. Mistake. The woman is mentally ill and becomes convinced that because of his act of kindness he was destined to become her lover. She started stalking him and sending menacing emails to him and his friends and family. Just one problem. The aspiring comic already has a girlfriend. He is dating a trans woman named Teri who happens to be a therapist. This story would be bad enough if it was just a film but the comic, Richard Gadd, went through it all in real life. And he really was dating a trans woman at the time. Nava Mau plays Teri and said in a recent interview, “I knew that it was based on real life and it seemed really important to show people that trans women exist in real life and in relationships with real people. I could see Richard’s heart in the writing and I hope that people will see it too.” Baby Reindeer is streaming on Netflix.

In the Dev Patel film Monkey Man the title character gets severely beaten and is rescued by a group of hijras and taken to their home where they tend to his wounds and help him heal. As he recovers he tells them that he is seeking revenge on the wealthy villain who ruined his childhood. The hijras are so upset about what happened to Dev’s character when he was a boy that they offer to be his private army and help him seek revenge. You can learn much more about the film and how the three principal hijras got their roles in the film in an interview with HeadStuff.

Pehan Abdul, Fahad Scale, Reva Marchellin, Vipin Sharma.

Alexandra Billings, who says she was never nominated for anything now must tell people those days are history. Billings is nominated for a Canadian Screen Award for her role in Queen Tut as Malibu, a trans woman who owns a nightclub in Toronto’s gay village. Developers want her property and the club is  threatened with demolition. Malibu and the community begin a campaign to save the club. Learn more about the film and the award from the CBC website.

Good Housekeeping has compiled a list of 15 “must see” transgender movies. Some you will have already seen but there are others in the list you may not be familiar with. You wouldn’t expect a publication like Good Housekeeping do a feature on trans movies so kudos to them. You’ll find the list here.

Jinkx prepares for villainy.

Jinkx Monsoon is a busy gal. At the moment she’s starring in an off Off-Broadway production of Little Shop of Horrors as Audrey. Last year she made Broadway history after becoming the first drag artist to take on the role of Matron “Mama” Morton in Chicago, a role she will return too in June for a limited run. And, she will be appearing as a new villain on Doctor Who when the new season hits the air. In the midst of all that Jinkx is transitioning. That’s right, the drag queen who identifies as “trans-femme” is taking hormone therapy while being hard at work in a play. Jinkx said “I never imagined I’d be transitioning while playing Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors, I never imagined — I didn’t even know any of that was possible for me.” Learn more —–about the big changes coming for Jinkx Monsoon from PinkNews.

It has to take courage to live in Texas with a transgender child. With the governor, the legislature, and the attorney general all sharpening their knives to attack transgender people how do such families cope? The answer is in a film titled Love to the Max. It reveals the bizarre double existence of families with trans kids in The Lone Star State. The family lives in Denton, Texas and it’s ironic that the sequel to The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Shock Treatment, is set in a town called Denton. Learn more on the story from the Dallas Observer.

Tags: featured, film, news, Transgender

Category: Transgender Fun & Entertainment