In this exclusive audio interview Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson host of OUTTAKE VOICES™ talks with filmmaker Alexia Kosmider (Not Your Mama’s Roller Derby, Sappho’s Fire) about her new documentary TransJourney that’s premiering at the Rhode Island International Film Festival Saturday August 9th at 7P. While the United Nations is mapping the legal environment for Transgender people and Time Magazine is addressing the “T” in LGBT with Laverne Cox gracing the cover of their magazine, TransJourney follows Sandra on her cross-country journey to share in the life of her former son, now her “new” daughter Annabelle. TransJourney explores three women’s personal journeys and the ways their lives have become intertwined and made stronger because of one another. In 2009 Annabelle transitioned to her new life as a woman in Seattle, Washington and her mother Sandra who lives in Rhode Island sets out on the cross-country trip to spend time with her new daughter. Annabelle meets Shannon an older transgender woman through the meetings they both attended at the Ingersoll Gender Center in Seattle. By offering to talk to Sandra about any questions she may have Shannon and Sandra have become close friends but have yet to meet one another in person. TransJourney is a quest of discovery of family, acceptance and identity. We talked to Alexia about her new documentary and her spin on our LGBT issues.
When asked what her personal commitment is to LGBT civil rights Kosmider stated, “I’m very committed maybe not as an activist but as a professor who teaches queer lit and film at RISD (Rhode Island School of Design) and also as a queer filmmaker. So I’m always not far from my passion, my work and I think I do a lot in that realm of being available to students at universities, turning them on to good LGBT literature and film.”
Alexia Kosmider with co-director Blue Wade and documentarian Michael Welty director of photography have created a tight, exceptional team for this timely breakthrough film. TransJourney takes us on those unsung back roads leading from openness to growth, acceptance to expression and community to support. Greater Providence PFLAG was one of the first LGBTQ organizations to come onboard with TransJourney. One of their missions is to tell stories and they felt that TransJourney tells an important story that benefits LGBTQ families. PFLAG has experienced more families reaching out to them that have members that are transgender and they felt that TransJourney is a logical and important link to their own mission. TransJouney will make its debut on Saturday, August 9th at 7P at Rhode Island School of Design’s Metcalf Auditorium in Providence, RI.
For More Info & Screening: shiftingvisions.com
Interesting woman...looking forward to see the film. I liked her mother's advise about laughter.
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