This New Documentary Will Transform How You See Trans Representation in Hollywood

It is also a film that must be seen by as many people as possible if we are to continue to fight for a world that doesn’t view transgender people as monsters, predators, and cinematic villains. Below, I spoke with Scholder and Feder about their long journey to make the film. One thing is certain: Disclosure is only the beginning.

Let’s talk about how you first conceived of this film.

Feder: We all know that looking at the past helps us to understand the present and plan better for the future. There are two documentaries that really changed my relationship to the media and to understanding pop culture: Vito Russo’s The Celluloid Closet, about the history of gay and lesbian representation in film, and Marlon Riggs’ Ethnic Notions, about the history of Black representation in film. I always wanted to see that history for trans people, with that same depth of critique and analysis and nuance.

I found myself in 2014 and trans visibility was increasing. Mainstream society was talking about us more than ever before. Because we’ve also seen again and again that when a marginalized community gets put into the spotlight, a backlash ensues. I wanted to give trans and non-trans people more context to understand these changes in our culture, the history, and how we got to this point of visibility, all while keeping in mind that visibility is not the goal. It’s a means to an end. I felt there was more to this story than what the public was seeing and talking about. A big part of that story is the paradox of visibility: how do we reckon with this public celebration of increased visibility while reckoning with an increase of social and legislative violence? That was really the starting point.

With The Celluloid Closet and Ethnic Notions, I really studied how they were made and talked to some of the people who helped make them. Those were both based on books. I was like, “OK, where’s the book on the history of trans representation?” But there was no book. Feeling really nervous about creating the story and knowing that documenting our history is really ethically precarious, the first step was to do research interviews with trans people who have worked on one side of the camera or the other — collecting and talking about all the memories that trans people have had over their lifetime and what their memories are of trans representation. From research to distribution, trans voices and perspectives and memories are completely centered.

Did you find it any easier to get funding and interest in this project after 2014?

Feder: 2014 was when I started traveling with my second film, which was Kate Bornstein is a Queer and Pleasant Danger. At the world premiere of that film, the queer film festival that was premiering it used my deadname. When I saw that my wrong name was being used, I was so disturbed for so many reasons, not just trans reasons. And they wouldn’t change it! At a queer film festival! I had to [take to social media and make some noise] to finally get it changed. At queer film festivals, there were no bathrooms I felt comfortable using. I remember having to be in a basement without a lock on it and having to pee and hold the door closed at the same time. I think I got, up to 2014, maybe one grant for all the films I’d made at that time. Over the past few months, before we signed with Netflix, a lot of the feedback we’d get when we shopped around the film was: “Oh, we already have a trans film. We don’t need another.”