The Tampa Bay International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival (TIGLFF) has entertained and empowered audiences since 1990, screening cinematic experiences by and for the LGBTQ community for more than three decades.
Its 2020 festival was held virtually in response to COVID-19, successfully paving the way for another evolution Nov. 20-22: the inaugural Tampa Bay Transgender Film Festival.
The virtual event is a partnership with St Pete Pride, Florida’s largest LGBTQ Pride celebration which postponed this year’s 18th annual outing due to the coronavirus. The collaboration is an extension of its longtime purpose to promote visibility through LGBTQ-focused community programming.
The festival will screen five transgender-focused films, four of which will be available nationwide and one which will be limited to viewers in Florida. They will be made available Nov. 20 at noon at no cost for the first 300 registered viewers, and for only a $1 per film fee to cover the cost of downloads after that.
TIGLFF and St Pete Pride have worked together since 2018, highlighting transgender-focused short films with events leading into the latter organization’s annual TransPride March. The march celebrates transgender members of the LGBTQ community and was founded in 2017 by St Pete Pride President Nathan Bruemmer.
His five years as a board member have allowed him to “to increase visibility for transgender, nonbinary and queer members of our community,” Bruemmer explains, most recently by co-founding the Tampa Bay Transgender Film Festival with TIGLFF Board Member Kayden Rodriguez. Rodriguez joined the organization earlier this year to bolster its transgender-focused outreach.
“TIGLFF is truly putting in the work to be an organization that is inclusive,” Rodriguez says. “That’s why this festival is happening, to show that we see the transgender community. We’re supporting all of the community and using film to connect with them, because sometimes there’s a disconnect or a lack of education. Film can really bring us all together.”
Bruemmer agrees. “My hope is the Transgender Film Fest will provide an opportunity for community, visibility and education,” he says. “There is something so powerful about the genre of film. It allows the audience to share and learn about others’ struggles and dreams.
In crafting the inaugural festival, the co-founders were determined to create a space grounded in the transgender experience. They also sought to elevate the coinciding Transgender Day of Remembrance, the annual observance honoring the memory of lives lost in acts of anti-transgender violence.
“To its co-founders, this festival is an echo to the Netflix Documentary ‘Disclosure,’” the festival’s website reads. “The historic documentary is a deep dive into the misrepresentation of transgender individuals in media.
“This festival is an intentional, direct answer to that misrepresentation,” it asserts. “As we know, it is well beyond time to honor the transgender lives that have been lost to incessant, unnecessary violence, and to use media as an educational tool to bring that same violence to an end.”
To accomplish their vision, Bruemmer and Rodriguez formed an inaugural Transgender Screening Committee, consisting of more than 15 transgender individuals who have previously or currently call Tampa Bay home. They assisted in selecting this year’s films and more.
Having a diverse group of voices was important to committee member Jake Racaniello, a University of Tampa graduate who notes that “being trans means something different for every trans person.”
“Each one of our experiences with trans-ness is unique and it’s important to get as many different views as possible,” she says. “I was excited to get to help pick the films and to add to the experiences represented by the other panelists … I’m excited for everyone to see them.”
“Visibility is so important in our lives to validate our existence,” fellow member Andrea Montanez adds.
Committee member Casper Oliver says it will also compliment TIGLFF and Tampa Bay’s growing arts scene as a whole.
“It is so inspiring and encouraging to see a festival for transgender filmmakers and film lovers of all kinds,” they say. “As a nonbinary creator, it gives a boost of faith to the creative scene to see places popping up that are specifically there to be welcoming places for people like me and many others.”
To watch this year’s festival selections, filmgoers will need to create a free account with the screening platform Eventive, also utilized for this year’s virtual TIGLFF. It bills itself as “the most flexible and comprehensive virtual cinema solution,” delivering “the one virtual cinema package with security, rights management, integrated ticketing, visibility and accountability built in.”
After the films are simultaneously unlocked, viewers will have 60 hours to begin watching their selections once they have ordered their tickets. They can be streamed from their personal computer, mobile device or home entertainment system featuring Apple TV, Roku or a Smart TV with AirPlay or Chromecast. Features like rewinding or restarting will be active throughout each screening’s watch window.
Tickets will be linked to whichever email address viewers utilize to create their Eventive account, and once they initiate their screening they will have 24 hours to finish each film. While they will be available in any order, the festival has provided a suggested schedule – seen on pg. 35 – and advises caution while viewing the films.
“For some individuals, particularly those within the LGBTQ+ community, engaging with these films may be emotionally challenging,” the festival’s website cautions. “Due to subjects of dysphoria, violence, and death, viewer discretion is advised.”
For that reason, the festival is providing a pre-recorded centering video led by Ashley Stewart and Steph Ostrow, two transgender-identifying mental health providers from Tampa Bay. The latter stems from Love, Hugh – which provides affirming services to all individuals with a focus on marginalized groups – and the latter from Medicine Within, LLC, which provides holistic services designed to unite mind and body.
“They are working together for this to be available on YouTube with access prior to our festival,” Rodriguez says. “They are providing this video for people to center themselves into the messaging of our Transgender Film Festival, as well as prepare individuals for the difficult and/or re-traumatizing narratives some of these films have, particularly for trans folks.”
View it below:
Following a Transgender Day of Remembrance vigil video, the pair will also close the festival by facilitating a free, virtual “Transgender Healing Space” Nov. 22 at 7 p.m. It will be held specifically for transgender festival attendees who registered for a ticket.
“This is to help process the narratives in our festival, our Transgender Day of Remembrance video vigil and the endless violence against transgender individuals,” Rodriguez says, particularly those who are Black, Indigenous and people of color. Doing so will allow viewers to have an “empowerment space for us to grow and heal together.”
“As someone who has been all over the creative scene, it is beautiful to see places start up to be open arms for the trans community,” Oliver adds. “We are at a scary point right now, but the reminder that we do have a beautiful community and we do have safe spaces can be life-changing and even life-saving. I cannot wait to see how this film festival grows in the future and what other amazing films that we’ll get to see.”
View this year’s suggested schedule and trailers via Facebook and YouTube below:
“OUT LOUD”
Streaming Nationwide | 53 Mins.
It’s all about the bass, but don’t forget about the tenors. This triumphant documentary introduces viewers to the historical Trans Chorus of Los Angeles, the largest group of transgender and gender nonconforming people anywhere in the world who regularly sing their truths. They reveal a symphony of stories about what it means to be transgender in America. The passionate, Juilliard-trained director of their chorus, also trans, teaches them to experiment the film’s subjects with newly-discovered parts of themselves as they coax their altered voices into different registers and hit just the right notes about spirit, joy and life.
“PIER KIDS”
Streaming Statewide | 96 Mins.
The name Pier Kids originates from the youth population that congregates along Christopher Street in New York City’s Greenwich Village and the surrounding piers during the nights and weekends. Follow the plight of Black, LGBTQ homeless youth in the area in this multi-year documentary exploring their lives. These youth create chosen families and struggle with survival and self-preservation, combatting anti-LGBTQ abuse and more. The documentary provides immersive access to the hazardous life of its vulnerable but fearless protagonists while exposing a raw but hopeful side of New York City that many ignore.
“KEYBOARD FANTASIES: THE BEVERLY GLENN-COPELAND STORY”
Streaming Nationwide | 63 Mins.
Beverly Glenn-Copeland wrote and self-released “Keyboard Fantasies” in 1986. The cassette featured seven tracks of a curious folk-electronica hybrid, a sound realized far before its time. Three decades on, the musician – now Glenn Copeland – began to receive emails from people across the world, thanking him for the music they’d recently discovered. This intimate coming of age story spins pain and the suffering of prejudice into rhythm, hope and joy. Half aural-visual history, half DIY tour-video, it provides a vehicle for our newly-appointed queer elder to connect with youth across the globe.
“I WAS NOT BORN A MISTAKE”
Streaming Nationwide | 52 Mins.
Yaakov Smith was an ultra-orthodox married man with six children and a pillar of his community when he left his family, his community and Israel. It took him 20 years to return – only this time as an observant woman. This documentary by Rachel Rusinek and Eyal Ben Moshe tells the story of Yiscah Smith and touches honestly and openly on a subject that is both relevant and unspoken. It is also a film about self-acceptance, compassion, love, and family.
“TRANSKIDS”
Streaming Nationwide | 103 Mins.
Capturing four years of intimate and deep documentation of four teenagers and their families, this film sheds brand new light on the impacts and implications of youth gender re-assigning. The subject remains controversial and delicate worldwide, especially in Israel. The film follows four teenagers who transition in a militaristic society in which religion plays a strong role in each citizen’s identity and teenagers enlist in the army right after high school. These four protagonists deal with typical teenage drama through the lens of transgender youth and we examine how each family deals with these dilemmas and difficulties.
The inaugural Tampa Bay Transgender Film Fest will be held Nov. 20-22. Each film can be streamed via Eventive at no cost to the first 300 registered viewers and will subsequently be made available for $1 per film to cover downloading fees. Additional donations are welcome.
To pre-order tickets or for more information about the festival, including this year’s sponsors and films, visit TransFilmFest.Eventive.org. For more information about TIGLFF or St Pete Pride, visit TIGLFF.com and StPetePride.com.
