An exciting summit celebrating and supporting transgender, non-binary, and gender-diverse filmmakers is returning to Toronto this TIFF season, and bringing an exciting opportunity for one lucky filmmaker.
As queer people, we’re living in a time with more and more representation on-screen. While it’s hard to put a number on how many people working in front of the camera and behind the scenes identify as 2SLGBTQ+, we are seeing more and more queer characters and storylines being brought to our screens.
In the 2023 edition of its annual Studio Responsibility Index, GLAAD, the largest LGBTQ media advocacy organization in the world, found that of the 350 movies released in theatres and streaming services in 2022, 100 films, or 28.5 per cent, were 2SLGBTQ+-inclusive. This is the highest percentage ever recorded by their annual study.
While it’s great to see 2SLGBTQ+ narratives represented on-screen, it’s important to ensure that people in these communities have opportunities to get involved in the telling of these stories. Enter the Trans Film Mentorship (TFM), an organization facilitating career development programs for transgender and non-binary creatives.
The organization works with production companies to create opportunities for transgender and non-binary filmmakers, creatives, and crew in the film and television industry. TFM programs also include coaching, training for hard and soft skills and career planning workshops.
“Right now, we have seven mentees going through kind of like our pre-training before they go on set,” Trans Filmmaker Mentorship Co-Founder Luis De Filippis told Queer & Now.
“They’ll be on a Netflix series Wayward coming up in September, and they’ll be on [set] for six weeks, doing their various tasks in their various departments,” De Filippis explained, adding that this is followed by a debriefing session where participants can unpack their experience.
De Filippis explained that the inspiration for TFM came when she was creating a feature film in 2021, and wanted to ensure there were plenty of transgender people involved in the project’s production.
“I think there’s a lot of conversations about, you know, people in front of the camera being represented. But the conversations about the people making the films, people in the crew, those conversations are still very much behind in the times,” she explained, adding that alongside her producer and TFM co-founder Jessica Adams, she decided to mentor five transgender youth, and TFM was born.
“I think when we’re talking about representation, who’s telling the stories is just as important as the people who are in front of the camera, like in the stories, you can’t have one without the other.”
TRANS FILMMAKERS SUMMIT AT TIFF 2024
The TFM has been operating for the past three years and boasts 30 talented alumni. In addition to its mentorship programming, the organization also hosts an annual summit, which returns to the city on Sept. 8 from 12:30-3 p.m. The event, which is already sold out this year, celebrates the strides transgender people have made in the film industry and discusses ways that the industry can improve.
During the event, the organization also gives out the annual Barrier Breaker Award. Past award-winners include American actress and reality TV star Ts Madison, and Bilal Baig of CBC’s “Sort Of.” This year’s award will be presented to Netflix’s “Baby Reindeer” actress Nava Mau.
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“You know, Nava’s had a great year. She is someone who I really admire because she herself started as a mentee,” De Filippis explained.
“Through all of [her success], she also continues to promote mentorship on her own projects. Like every short that she does, she always makes sure to have a mentee. And so for us, she’s like the perfect barrier breaker, because she’s very much doing that in so many different ways.”
De Filippis shared that organizers of this year’s event set out with the goal of finding a way to have a tangible role in the lives of trans filmmakers, and partnered with another Canadian organization to introduce an exciting opportunity. Alongside the Spindle Films Foundation, a charity dedicated to supporting transgender, non-binary, two-spirit, and gender-diverse filmmakers in Canada through an annual six-month mentorship program, TFM has organized The Short Film Fund pitch competition.
The pitch will take place at the summit, allowing three already-chosen finalists to pitch a short film concept to a jury that will select a winning concept. The chosen contestant will receive $15,000 in funding for their production, as well as a variety of in-kind services to help advance their project, and in turn, their careers.
Spindle Films Foundation founder J Stevens lamented the importance of creating opportunities and programming for transgender, non-binary, two-spirit and gender-diverse creatives.
“When I started getting into network TV, when there was a trans crew member, they would say, ‘You’re the only above-the-line trans person I’ve ever worked with,’” Stevens told Queer & Now.
“I think they were saying as a positive like, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s so cool that you’re doing this,’ and I was like, ‘That’s brutal.’ That should not be the state of the industry.”
