Germany's Transgender Film Festival 2014

By Sabrina Samone

Yet again, I'd like to thank Andy Gras/Traum-kino and the rest of the team behind Germany's annual Transgender film festival for choosing again, Transmuseplanet, to share the winners of this year`s film festival with the international Trans community. Germany stands a very close second to America when it comes to the readership here at TMP, so I'm glad to share the exciting news and work our brothers and sisters in the Germany community are doing to celebrate and empower the Trans community.

What exactly is the extent of the work they are doing? In an era where Trans-actors are denied or looked over for work, given only the minimal and stereotypical roles, this film festival along with a growing number of exclusively Transgender film festivals are sprouting up across the globe. Enhancing the visibility of multifaceted and talented Trans directors, producers, writers, actors, singers, models and a host of well deserved to be recognized talents within our community.

This years exciting list includes the controversial, The Dallas Buyer's Club, which received mixed reviews within the community it was intended to represent, but yet again portraying a free heterosexual white male as a struggling Transgender woman. Many feel it is the typical role of an actor to act in  any character given a chance to, it is the very definition of acting but many are angry not at the actor that has proven himself worthy of portraying a character but at the entertainment business for it's unwillingness to even consider Transgender actors for trans roles.

This year's stand out winner, in my opinion, is the short film, The Journey; about an often unspoken part of our community, transgender women isolated from families and any support and due to identification laws in our country, are forced into a life of sex work. With this film and several of the other winners in this years Germany Transgender Film Festival, I walked away with a feeling of not so much a celebration of being trans as I did last year, but reminded over and over again of the turmoil and tribulations of a Trans life.

Unlike last years winner, which featured several projects about Trans-men, this years Festival seemed to be lacking in that category with the exception of Shirts vs. Skins, which by the way, unlike any of last years winners, finally featured Trans men of color in an award winning short film.

Overall it remains an exciting list of new entertainment choices for our community and for the world at large to take a glimpse into what it means to be Trans. So again, congratulations to our friends at Germany's Transgender Film Festival for yet another outstanding year of celebrating the T in films.



Awards of

Germany's TRANSGENDER FILMFESTIVAL


Best FeatureFilm of the Year:
DALLAS BUYERS CLUB
http://www.dallasbuyersclub.com

Best Performance:
Miles Szanto
in BRUNO AND EARLENE GO TO VEGAS

Best Trans Performance (MtF):
Guillaume Gallienne
in ME MYSELF AND MUM

 

Best Actress (non tg-role):
Jennifer Garner
in DALLAS BUYERS CLUB

Best Actor (non tg-role):
Matthew McConaughey
in DALLAS BUYERS CLUB

 Best Documentary Film:
ONE ZERO ONE
http://www.onezeroonemovie.com

Best Song:
DON'T LEAVE ME NOW by Supertramp
in ME MYSELF AND MUM

Best Poster:
BAMBI

Best Website:
What's the T


Best short Film:
THE JOURNEY
Dir. Kerri Cecil

Best Trans-Performances in a short Film (MtF):
Peter Dillon in
BRIGHT SPARKS & DARKNESS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oACm4JILuF8

Emily Lucid in
THE JOURNEY

Ronique Veira inPOSH




Best Trans-Performance in a short Film (FtM):
Tajir S. Hawkins
in SHIRTS VS SKINS

Best short Documentary: 
MEXICO'S THIRD GENDER
Dir. Bernardo Loyola

Best Musicvideo:
ANNABEL
by Goldfrapp

The event took place April 11-13, 2014
in Kiel/Germany.
THE 2014 GERMANY TRANSGENDER FILM FESTIVAL

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No due Process for Trans Teen

By Sabrina Samone, TMP

I was under the impression America equaled freedom...oops I'm sorry that's not the case if your Trans. This week a 16 year old Trans girl was sent to an adult prison without even being charged with a crime. The minor in question has spent the last eight days in an adult prison, locked up alone for 22 hours of every day. Her tragic story did not start there; she spent the last 11 years of  her 16 years of life in the Connecticut Department of Children and families after being rescued from an abusive home. It was after reaching the age of 16 that the Connecticut Agency decided they could no longer care for her and placed her in a worse environment; an all male adult prison.

In court documents filed earlier this week, Doe provides some background on her life so far.
"I was placed in DCF custody because my father was incarcerated and my mother was using heroin, crack, alcohol, and possibly other drugs," her statement reads. "While in DCF custody, I have suffered immensely. I feel that DCF has failed to protect me from harm, and I am now thrown into prison because they have refused to help me."


The youth details an horrific existence within the state agency that included being raped, assaulted, and forced to perform sex on state employees within the DCF, only to be handed back briefly to the original abuser, her mother, at the age of 15.

The mature 16 year old said that she was willing to cooperate with authorities in order to receive the proper care she was entitled to as a ward of the state saying,   "I don't think being placed in isolation or in a male facility would be in my best interest or prepare me to re-enter the community. I need to be given treatment and services specific to my needs. I need to deal with the trauma I've experienced in my life. This prison cannot do that for me. I am willing to cooperate fully with those people who are willing to help me fully."

Doe's placement in the adult prison stemmed from an incident in January where she allegedly injured a DCF staff member during a physical altercation. Probably trying to defend herself from further abuse.

Supporters of Doe have begun an online campaign urging Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy to evaluate the situation and intervene, using the Twitter hashtag #RethinkMalloy


This story is sadly yet another example of a Transgender persons mistreatment within state correctional facilities. Also, even more sadly, the plight of Transgender youth in American Society.
Not only have state officials placed a minor in eminent danger but failed to rehabilitate or treat her medical condition of Dyshoria. Even with a misinformed belief that gender dysphoria is a mental disorder, which was taken off the list of mental disorders by DSM or a growing rational belief that dysphoria is a medical condition, the state of Connecticut failed yet another minor within their care.

So who are the abusers here really? The youth's mother? The state of Connecticut? The DCF? Our Society?


All the above!



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Transgender Student Harassed & Suspended For Using GIRLS Bathroom! 'I To...

HORRIBLE STORY OUT OF CHARLOTTE NORTH CAROLINA, this piece courtesy of Bossip.com



school. Twenty-two-year-old Andraya Williams was on her way to her sociology class at CPCC in



uptown Charlotte when she says a security guard stopped her. “It was very embarrassing and



humiliating because I didn’t feel like it was any of her business.” The transgender student had just



 come out of the women’s bathroom when the guard asked to see her school ID. “She outright asked



me was I male or female and I told her that I was female. I showed her my ID and she called for



backup. A spokesman for the school says the guard was looking out for the safety of other students



when she thought she saw a man dressed as a woman going into the bathroom. But Williams says the



guard mocked her. She was kind of chuckling. I felt like she was picking on me. Andraya says she



 was escorted off campus, told she was suspended and only allowed back if she used the gender



neutral bathroom. Her attorney Sarah Demarest told us a dean at the college had one more demand.



He told her she had to bring in medical proof of being a female if she wanted to use the female



restroom. A spokesman for the school, Jeff Lowrance, says Williams was never technically



suspended, only in trouble for supposedly not showing her ID and in a written statement said, Central



 Piedmont, like many colleges and universities across the country, is beginning to recognize and



understand the needs of transgender students. However, the college must balance these needs with



those of the general student population. Williams says it’s just plain discrimination. She and her



attorney are considering filing a formal complaint and they are hoping for an apology from the



school. A group of students are planning a protest Friday at the school.