Trans in Film and Video 5/30/22
Yasmin Finney
Whovians were abuzz this past week on changes that will come to Doctor Who since former showrunner Russell T Davies is back in the driver’s seat for the next season. Who fans and the media were confused and thought that Rose, played by Billie Piper on the show from 2005 to 2013, was coming back as a Black trans woman. This is not the case. Who will be back, for at least an episode or two, are former Doctor David Tennant and his companion Donna Noble, portrayed by Catherine Tate. But, back to the transgender Rose. The confusion came about when Yasmin Finney, currently appearing in the show Heartstopper, was named as a Doctor Who character named Rose, but not as the Rose played by Billie Piper. What her role will be has not been revealed. We’ll let you know as soon as the BBC says something.
ABC show A Million Little Things added a transgender character to the cast on May 4. The character is an LGBTQ+ teen portrayed by trans man actor Ash Spencer. At first fans of the show were wondering if Spencer was actually trans. A look at his IMDB page revealed that Spencer is a gender fluid trans man whose pronouns are he and they. His debut happened in A Million Little Things Season 4, episode 17, titled “60 Minutes”. You can watch episodes on the ABC website.
Dead End: Paranormal Park is a new animated series based on the beloved horror-comedy graphic novels Deadendia, which follows the adventures of Barney (he/him), a trans teen voiced by trans actor Zach Barack. Barney, along with his pal Norma, and Pugsley, a magical demon-possessed talking dog get summer jobs and have to “balance their summer jobs at the local theme park haunted house while battling the totally real supernatural forces that dwell within it.” Learn more from Out and check out the trailer right here.
Director Sadi1 with star Alina.
The Cannes Film Festival has a category called Un Certain Regard which focuses on arthouse and “artistically daring” films. On May 27 the Jury Prize in that category was given to director Saim Sadiq’s Joyland. It’s the first Pakistani film to be presented at Cannes and it received a ten minute standing ovation at its premiere. The story follows Haider, played by Ali Junejo, a married man, seemingly happily, whose life is upended when he becomes a backing dancer for trans performer Biba, played by Alina Khan. This is Sadiq’s first feature film. Learn more about the film from Al Jazeera.
Also making a splash at Cannes was an Odia film from India titled T. (Odia is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the Indian state of Odisha.) The film is based on the real-life story of Meghna Sahoo, India’s first transgender cab driver. She is portrayed in the film by cisgender male actor Dev.
As Parvati on the left and himself on the right.
Also premiering soon in India is the film, Ardh, which is in post production. The film could have been inspired by Tootsy. In that film Dustin Hoffman plays an out of work actor who dresses as a woman and auditions for a soap opera. In Ardh the character Shiva is a small town theater actor who is doing well in his niche but he yearns for success in the movies. To that end he moves his family to Mumbai and starts attending auditions every day. But with no film work on his resume he soon learns it’s almost impossible to get cast in one. To support his family, and with his wife’s assistance, he begins dressing as a “kinnar”, what we would call a transgender woman, and acts the role of a beggar on the streets of Mumbai. His begging character is called Parvati. While filming in Mumbai the star of the film, Rajpal Yadav, was so convincing in character as Parvati that he was taken for a kinnar by passersby. He said, “Interestingly, no one recognized me, and one even went on to hand me a ten rupee note confusing me with an actual kinnar. This was a humbling experience for me as an actor.” The director Palash Muchhal said, “Ardh is the story of almost every dreamer in Mumbai and we’ve tried to keep the movie as close to reality as possible. It’s something that a lot of people will connect to as it’s the story of the people”.
That’s the latest on trans in film and video. See you at the movies next month!
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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