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Six artists selected for inaugural program focused on advancement of transgender storytellers of color
Los Angeles, CA – The nonprofit Sundance Institute launched today the inaugural Trans Possibilities Intensive, a three-day virtual program focused on advancing transgender storytellers of color and their projects. Six artists have been selected for the Intensive which provides a supportive environment to work on their projects, sharpen their craft, develop community, and challenge the obstacles that continue to exclude transgender artists of color. The Intensive is designed and led by Moi Santos, Sundance Institute Outreach & Inclusion and Indigenous Programs Coordinator, and includes guidance from experienced creative advisors including Sam Feder, Yance Ford, Tourmaline, and Ro Haber.
The selected fellows include Ava Davis, StormMiguel Florez, River Gallo, Carol Grant, Mitchell (MiSha) Owens, and Savannah Ward. They were nominated by the Institute’s allied organizations, including organizations working explicitly with emerging transgender artists of color, and peers within the Sundance Artist Programs.
During the Intensive, fellows will participate in a robust schedule focusing on key areas of craft including group exercises, discipline specific workshops, and work closely with established creative artist advisors. The program begins with a free public event on October 18 at 10am PT on Sundance Collab, Beyond the Tipping Point where visionary filmmakers Tourmaline (Happy Birthday, Marsha!) and Sam Feder (Disclosure) discuss their filmmaking processes, the state of transgender representation, and the power of storytelling as an agent of cultural change.
“This Intensive is the result of ongoing and evolving priorities through Sundance’s Outreach and Inclusion work and a year of thoughtful and intentional planning, heartfelt commitment, and a belief in supporting transgender storytellers of color and their stories,” said Santos. “We are honored that the Fellows have chosen to share their artistic journeys with us and look forward to continuing our relationship and building community together for years to come.”
In advance of the Intensive, Moi Santos and GLAAD created a transgender awareness training designed to further knowledge, learning, and understanding about transgender and non-binary people so the Sundance Institute can continue advancing inclusion for transgender artists, employees, volunteers, and audiences in physical and online spaces, as well as through our programming of accurate and authentic representation on screen.
In conjunction with this work, the Institute partnered with the Disclosure filmmakers and GLAAD to build a toolkit geared toward entertainment industry executives and creators seeking to use Disclosure as a resource for trans-inclusive storytelling. It is designed to ignite conversations and enhance the work of professionals providing industry DEI training on trans representation in media, and will be available in November here.
The 2021 Trans Possibilities Intensive Fellows and projects are:
Ava Davis
Ava Davis, also known as the Duchess of Grant Park, is a trans actress, producer/filmmaker, and writer living in Atlanta, Georgia. She is also an advocate for increasing trans and queer representation, especially that of black and other minorities.
The Waltz: Career-driven Claire has fully transitioned into a woman, and finds an unlikely partner who can help her realize her lifelong dream of learning to waltz, but both find themselves unsure of the others’ feelings.
StormMiguel Florez
StormMiguel Florez is a trans, queer Xicane filmmaker, actor, and lifelong musician, whose film work includes documentaries The Whistle (Producer/Director) and MAJOR! (Co-Producer/Editor). He’s originally from Albuquerque, NM and has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for 25 years. He lives with his partner and their 3 chihuahuas.
Welcome To Roswell: A middle aged trans filmmaker returns to his father’s birthplace, Roswell, New Mexico to document coming out to his family. His partner’s obsession with the 1947 UFO crash takes him and his film crew in a very different direction.
River Gallo
River Gallo is a GLAAD award-winning Salvadoran-American filmmaker, actor, writer, model and intersex activist. They are the creator and star of the short film Ponyboi (Tribeca 2019) which was the first narrative film created by and starring an out intersex person in cinema history. River is currently developing Ponyboi into a feature film, produced by Ezra Miller. They are represented by CAA and Management 360.
Ponyboi: When a high-profile john expires coitus interruptus, intersex sex worker Ponyboi suddenly finds himself in a fever dream on the run from the New Jersey mob on Valentine’s Day.
Carol Grant
Carol Grant is a screenwriter and Nicholl Quarterfinalist from the San Fernando Valley. Between writing screenplays about queer identities and bodies, she writes for publications like Vice, Indiewire, and Little White Lies. Carol’s stories come from both a trans and a neurodivergent perspective, discovering the thin boundaries between flesh and mind.
Eurydice V: In a decaying Earth, a troubled mercenary must smuggle a young, illegal clone that’s escaped from her creator through a dystopian Mexico to a sanctuary on a colonized moon.
Mitchell (MiSha) Owens
Born and raised just outside of the Navajo Nation I’ve always wanted to tell stories that would resonate with audiences. Whether it be raw, and gritty, or light hearted and comical, I want my stories to remain authentically real by staying true to who I am as a TransFeminine individual.
The Boy from Across Town: After a late night hook up, a small town Drag Performer gets caught up in an old classmate’s involvement with the local drug cartel.
Savannah Ward
Savannah Ward is a Black trans/non-binary writer who’s currently an Executive Story Editor on Cruel Summer, the thriller drama series produced by Jessica Biel for Freeform. In their spare time, Savannah writes Horror features because, “what is more horrific than being a Black, queer, trans person in America?”
Meta: Insecure about his masculinity, Black transgender teen Jake, aims to be a star athlete and transfers schools to run on the Boys Cross Country team. But when he discovers that most of his teammates are a pack of bloodthirsty, toxically masculine Werewolves, Jake must define what it means to be a man for himself.
Sundance Institute
As a champion and curator of independent stories for the stage and screen, the nonprofit Sundance Institute provides and preserves the space for artists in film, theatre, film composing, and digital media to create and thrive. Founded in 1981 by Robert Redford, the Institute’s signature Labs, granting, and mentorship programs which are dedicated to developing new work and take place throughout the year in the U.S. and internationally, are supported largely through contributed revenue. Sundance Collab, a digital community platform, brings artists together to learn from each other and Sundance Advisors and connect in a creative space, developing and sharing works in progress.
The Sundance Film Festival and other public programs connect audiences and artists to ignite new ideas, discover original voices, and build a community dedicated to independent storytelling. Sundance Institute has supported such projects as Clemency, Never Rarely Sometimes Always, Zola, On The Record, Boys State, The Farewell, Honeyland, One Child Nation, The Souvenir, The Infiltrators, Sorry to Bother You, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, Hereditary, Call Me By Your Name, Get Out, The Big Sick, Mudbound, Fruitvale Station, City So Real, Top of the Lake, Between the World & Me, Wild Goose Dreams and Fun Home. Join Sundance Institute on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.
The post The Sundance Institute Launches Trans Possibilities Intensive appeared first on The Nerd Element.
Six artists selected for inaugural program focused on advancement of transgender storytellers of color
Los Angeles, CA – The nonprofit Sundance Institute launched today the inaugural Trans Possibilities Intensive, a three-day virtual program focused on advancing transgender storytellers of color and their projects. Six artists have been selected for the Intensive which provides a supportive environment to work on their projects, sharpen their craft, develop community, and challenge the obstacles that continue to exclude transgender artists of color. The Intensive is designed and led by Moi Santos, Sundance Institute Outreach & Inclusion and Indigenous Programs Coordinator, and includes guidance from experienced creative advisors including Sam Feder, Yance Ford, Tourmaline, and Ro Haber.
The selected fellows include Ava Davis, StormMiguel Florez, River Gallo, Carol Grant, Mitchell (MiSha) Owens, and Savannah Ward. They were nominated by the Institute’s allied organizations, including organizations working explicitly with emerging transgender artists of color, and peers within the Sundance Artist Programs.
During the Intensive, fellows will participate in a robust schedule focusing on key areas of craft including group exercises, discipline specific workshops, and work closely with established creative artist advisors. The program begins with a free public event on October 18 at 10am PT on Sundance Collab, Beyond the Tipping Point where visionary filmmakers Tourmaline (Happy Birthday, Marsha!) and Sam Feder (Disclosure) discuss their filmmaking processes, the state of transgender representation, and the power of storytelling as an agent of cultural change.
“This Intensive is the result of ongoing and evolving priorities through Sundance’s Outreach and Inclusion work and a year of thoughtful and intentional planning, heartfelt commitment, and a belief in supporting transgender storytellers of color and their stories,” said Santos. “We are honored that the Fellows have chosen to share their artistic journeys with us and look forward to continuing our relationship and building community together for years to come.”
In advance of the Intensive, Moi Santos and GLAAD created a transgender awareness training designed to further knowledge, learning, and understanding about transgender and non-binary people so the Sundance Institute can continue advancing inclusion for transgender artists, employees, volunteers, and audiences in physical and online spaces, as well as through our programming of accurate and authentic representation on screen.
In conjunction with this work, the Institute partnered with the Disclosure filmmakers and GLAAD to build a toolkit geared toward entertainment industry executives and creators seeking to use Disclosure as a resource for trans-inclusive storytelling. It is designed to ignite conversations and enhance the work of professionals providing industry DEI training on trans representation in media, and will be available in November here.
The 2021 Trans Possibilities Intensive Fellows and projects are:
Ava Davis
Ava Davis, also known as the Duchess of Grant Park, is a trans actress, producer/filmmaker, and writer living in Atlanta, Georgia. She is also an advocate for increasing trans and queer representation, especially that of black and other minorities.
The Waltz: Career-driven Claire has fully transitioned into a woman, and finds an unlikely partner who can help her realize her lifelong dream of learning to waltz, but both find themselves unsure of the others’ feelings.
StormMiguel Florez
StormMiguel Florez is a trans, queer Xicane filmmaker, actor, and lifelong musician, whose film work includes documentaries The Whistle (Producer/Director) and MAJOR! (Co-Producer/Editor). He’s originally from Albuquerque, NM and has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for 25 years. He lives with his partner and their 3 chihuahuas.
Welcome To Roswell: A middle aged trans filmmaker returns to his father’s birthplace, Roswell, New Mexico to document coming out to his family. His partner’s obsession with the 1947 UFO crash takes him and his film crew in a very different direction.
River Gallo
River Gallo is a GLAAD award-winning Salvadoran-American filmmaker, actor, writer, model and intersex activist. They are the creator and star of the short film Ponyboi (Tribeca 2019) which was the first narrative film created by and starring an out intersex person in cinema history. River is currently developing Ponyboi into a feature film, produced by Ezra Miller. They are represented by CAA and Management 360.
Ponyboi: When a high-profile john expires coitus interruptus, intersex sex worker Ponyboi suddenly finds himself in a fever dream on the run from the New Jersey mob on Valentine’s Day.
Carol Grant
Carol Grant is a screenwriter and Nicholl Quarterfinalist from the San Fernando Valley. Between writing screenplays about queer identities and bodies, she writes for publications like Vice, Indiewire, and Little White Lies. Carol’s stories come from both a trans and a neurodivergent perspective, discovering the thin boundaries between flesh and mind.
Eurydice V: In a decaying Earth, a troubled mercenary must smuggle a young, illegal clone that’s escaped from her creator through a dystopian Mexico to a sanctuary on a colonized moon.
Mitchell (MiSha) Owens
Born and raised just outside of the Navajo Nation I’ve always wanted to tell stories that would resonate with audiences. Whether it be raw, and gritty, or light hearted and comical, I want my stories to remain authentically real by staying true to who I am as a TransFeminine individual.
The Boy from Across Town: After a late night hook up, a small town Drag Performer gets caught up in an old classmate’s involvement with the local drug cartel.
Savannah Ward
Savannah Ward is a Black trans/non-binary writer who’s currently an Executive Story Editor on Cruel Summer, the thriller drama series produced by Jessica Biel for Freeform. In their spare time, Savannah writes Horror features because, “what is more horrific than being a Black, queer, trans person in America?”
Meta: Insecure about his masculinity, Black transgender teen Jake, aims to be a star athlete and transfers schools to run on the Boys Cross Country team. But when he discovers that most of his teammates are a pack of bloodthirsty, toxically masculine Werewolves, Jake must define what it means to be a man for himself.
Sundance Institute
As a champion and curator of independent stories for the stage and screen, the nonprofit Sundance Institute provides and preserves the space for artists in film, theatre, film composing, and digital media to create and thrive. Founded in 1981 by Robert Redford, the Institute’s signature Labs, granting, and mentorship programs which are dedicated to developing new work and take place throughout the year in the U.S. and internationally, are supported largely through contributed revenue. Sundance Collab, a digital community platform, brings artists together to learn from each other and Sundance Advisors and connect in a creative space, developing and sharing works in progress.
The Sundance Film Festival and other public programs connect audiences and artists to ignite new ideas, discover original voices, and build a community dedicated to independent storytelling. Sundance Institute has supported such projects as Clemency, Never Rarely Sometimes Always, Zola, On The Record, Boys State, The Farewell, Honeyland, One Child Nation, The Souvenir, The Infiltrators, Sorry to Bother You, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, Hereditary, Call Me By Your Name, Get Out, The Big Sick, Mudbound, Fruitvale Station, City So Real, Top of the Lake, Between the World & Me, Wild Goose Dreams and Fun Home. Join Sundance Institute on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.
The post The Sundance Institute Launches Trans Possibilities Intensive appeared first on The Nerd Element.
Missouri’s most pro-insurrection senator Josh Hawley delivered the keynote speech at this weekend’s National Conservatism Conference. His speech was dedicated to what he sees as “the left’s attack on men in America.” Based on a clip of his speech that’s been making the rounds on Twitter, it was exactly as inane as you’d expect.
In the clip, Hawley blames feminism for driving men “into the enclave of idleness, and pornography, and video games.”
Josh Hawley says more men today are watching porn and playing video games because their masculinity has been criticized. pic.twitter.com/R0eXdRSYNT
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) November 1, 2021
“After years of being told they are the problem, that their manhood is the problem,” why would men not turn to these things, Hawley asks. Well, I don’t know but maybe the party that’s built itself around ideas of “personal accountability” could start by growing a little backbone and stop blaming women’s fight for equality and basic respect for men’s interest in porn and video games.
That clip has gotten a lot of attention for being completely ridiculous. But after having found a copy of the speech in its entirety, it’s not even the worst or weirdest thing he said at this event.
Without subjecting you to too much of Hawley’s baffling pomposity (you can read the speech in full here if you so choose for some reason), it’s full of bad faith arguments, strawman fallacies, and a complete dearth of actual logic and reason.
To prove that “the left” (an undefined but apparently all-encompassing, uniformly man-hating entity) is trying to destroy masculinity and therefore America itself, Hawley takes issue with the idea that systemic oppression in any form exists. He whinges about how “the left’s” insistence that toxic masculinity is a thing that exists, men are getting married less and at older ages, and that they’re being driven from higher education and even the military.
(He specifically cites a workshop about toxic masculinity upsetting young men at West Point Academy, but given the prevalence of sexual assault at said academy, it’s hard to really care that a few men were a bit miffed.)
Hawley touches on numerous disparate issues including vaccine mandates, over-medicating children, and outsourcing labor to foreign countries, shoving all of these things and more under the umbrella of a leftist war on men.
He dips into anti-trans rhetoric, citing trans inclusion in women’s sports and gender-neutral language in conversations about reproductive health. As Hawley sees it, the left’s “assault on womanhood” is part of the larger war on gender—but really, on men. (Also, if anyone’s waging a war on women—and they are—it’s the Josh Hawleys of the world.)
Not one single sentence in Hawley’s speech comes from a place of good faith. Just one example: To illustrate how unreasonable “the left” is regarding gender, he cites a 2018 op-ed from Professor Suzanna Walters of Northeastern University in which Walters argues that it “seems logical to hate men” because of all the harm they’ve caused women.
Hawley holds this up as an example of liberal culture run amok without acknowledging that the university immediately put out a statement that Walters’ views don’t represent the institution, but that “Northeastern is committed to fostering an environment in which controversial ideas can be discussed, debated and challenged.”
So not only is this clearly just one woman’s opinion and not that of any larger group or institution, but aren’t people like Hawley and other conservatives constantly complaining about controversial ideas being silenced? The hypocrisy is astounding.
Hawley’s entire speech is comprised of fearmongering talking points that are rooted in nothing but an assumption that those listening will regurgitate those points without doing any critical thinking about whether or not they’re true.
“The Left want to define traditional masculinity as toxic,” Hawley claims. “They want to define the traditional masculine virtues—things like courage, and independence, and assertiveness—as a danger to society.”
That’s simply ridiculous. And Hawley likely knows it’s ridiculous, but he’s also managed to be successful in building a career and a reputation on this sort of fact-free scaremongering partisan war nonsense, so he will continue to act a clown for as long as he can.
(image: MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
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The post Josh Hawley Blames Feminism for Driving Men to “Idleness, Pornography, & Video Games” first appeared on The Mary Sue.Today Netflix releases a new animated series, Maya and the Three. Check out the trailer and logline below:
In a fantastical world filled with magic, a Mesoamerican-inspired warrior princess embarks on an epic quest to fulfil an ancient prophecy and save humanity from the vengeful gods of the underworld.
From creator Jorge R. Gutiérrez (El Tigre, The Book of Life), Maya and the Three is a Netflix Animated Event told in nine epic chapters. Set in a fictional fantasy world, Maya and the Three is an adventure full of heart and humor, inspired by a rich, vibrant mixture of Aztec, Maya, and Inca mythology, and modern-day Caribbean culture.
The series begins with Maya (Zoe Saldaña) about to celebrate her fifteenth birthday and coronation, although she is more interested in the fighting pits. But everything changes when the gods of the underworld arrive and announce that Maya’s life is forfeit to the God of War — a price she must pay for her family’s secret past. Maya embarks on a thrilling quest to fulfil an ancient prophecy that foretells the coming of three great warriors who will help her defeat the gods and save humankind.
Zoe Saldaña (Star Trek, Guardians of the Galaxy) as Princess Maya. A warrior princess who is devoted to her family but yearns for something more. Saldaña sometimes sounds a little old to be playing a fifteen-year-old but most of the time she pulls it off. In the more serious moments, she will lose that sound of wonderment and youthfulness but overall, she does a good job in the role.
Allen Maldonado (Project Power, Heels) is Rico, the wizard who has to hustle to survive. Seems tough on the outside but has a big heart. Rico is one of the best characters in Maya and the Three, he’s well rounded and entertaining. He brings a lot of the humour to the show.
Stephanie Beatriz (Brooklyn Nine-Nine, In the Heights) as Chimi. She was cast out as an infant for being different and is very guarded. Beatriz brings her comedic skills in the line deliveries as well as giving Chimi real heart.
Gabriel Iglesias (The Book of Life, Mr. Iglesias) stars as Picchu and Rita Moreno (One Day at a Time, West Side Story) is Ah Puch, both also put in strong performances. The whole voice cast is great and very well cast. Other actors involved include Diego Luna (The Book of Life, Rogue One), Alfred Molina (Spider-Man 2, Boogie Nights), Danny Trejo (From Dusk Till Dawn, Machete) and Queen Latifah (Chicago, The Equalizer).
We are introduced to new characters in every episode, sadly some of them are only around for a couple of minutes. The voice cast is very impressive, I would have liked to see more of some of the characters.
Jorge R. Gutiérrez is the creator of Maya and the Three and is involved in every aspect, including voice acting for the role of Maya’s father, King Teca. This is a personal project for Gutiérrez, who used his wife Sandra Equihua as inspiration for the character of Maya. Equihua plays the role of Queen Teca as well as being thes creative consultant. The show consists of a mix of different cultures that don’t get the representation they deserve. Gutiérrez has mixed it all up and created a new story that fits into the tapestry of cultures well.
The animation of Maya and the Three is great, it has a really strong look. In some of the action scenes they have things coming out beyond the letterboxing, making it feel more 3D. Both the production design and the execution of the animation are excellent. As good as the story is, it’s the look of the show that really sells it.
Maya and the Three includes some heavy subject matter pretty much from the beginning, this continues throughout the run. The show is recommended for years 7 and up. It’s not an easily digestible animated series so if you’re a parent, check out the guidance online or watch it first to see if it’s something that is suitable for your kids. The pace of the show is incredibly fast so they don’t linger with anything for too long.
There are a lot of action scenes in the series, maybe too many. It can be a little chaotic but at the same time, the scenes are beautifully done. There are some quieter moments half way through the show where it feels like you actually get to know some of the characters. Prior to that, it’s a little bang bang bang with all of the fight scenes. It is tough to connect to the characters when you’re not told much about them except for they can fight.
Maya and the Three consists of 9 episodes, each about 30 minutes long. It covers a lot of ground in a short running time, at times I felt like they moved past things too quickly but a quick pace is better than dragging out the story for as long as possible. This feels like a good show for those who have a Trollhunters shaped hole in their viewing habits. Maya and the Three is beautiful to look at and has a strong collection of characters and voice actors. It is listed as a limited series so this might be all we get of Maya and the Three, if so, it is a very strong 9 episode run. It’s an impressive epic quest, one that I would highly recommend.
Maya and the Three is released on Netflix October 22nd 2021
The post New Netflix Animated Series, Maya and the Three, is a Hit appeared first on The Nerd Element.