Interview with Penny Clifford

Monika: Today’s interview will be with Penny Clifford, an Australian icon, showgirl, journalist, actress, and dancer. Hello Penny!

Penny: Good’ay Monika!

Monika: What are you doing these days?

Penny: I am still performing and I am also into Entertainment and PR Management. 

Monika: The perception of Australian transsexual and transgender ladies is often shaped by the movie “The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert”. How far was the movie from reality?

Penny: The Movie was fun and was written by people that actually hung around the Sydney drag scene in the early '80s, where they took ideas from drags and transsexuals and created their script. Many of the jokes and characters were based on real life. I was in a show that did travel to the exact casino that the Priscilla Bus & Girls traveled to and the show I was in performed at that casino for a 6-week period. So some of that was definitely based on us, although we flew to get there and there were definitely no pink buses!

Interview with Diana Salameh

Monika: Today’s interview is with Diana Salameh, also known as Yasmene Jabar, an American film director and stand-up comedienne from Noxubee County, Mississippi, a remarkable woman and one of the most inspirational transgender icons. She is the director and producer of Desiree: A Ghost Story (2012). Hello Diana!

Diana: Greetings Monika, and thank you for asking me to take part in this interview. I hope you and your readers will have a better understanding of just who I am.

Monika: How would you define yourself? Are you more of a filmmaker, comedy actress, or stand-up comedian?

Diana: I feel myself to be a Renaissance Woman, I’ve had many artistic outlets over the years, photography, painting, sculpting, acting, and now I think it has evolved into film-making, however that doesn’t mean you won't see me doing cameo roles as Hitchcock did in his films or reviving a long-dead comedy character if I feel the time is right.
Right now I love weaving together a collection of images to tell a story. It’s just possible that I am exactly where I need to be and everything I have done up to this point has been a stepping stone.