Interview with Claire Slingerland

Monika: Today I would like to present to you Claire Slingerland, a Dutch filmmaker from Almere, the Netherlands, the director of the documentary "De Oversteek'' (The Step) and owner of film production company Blits Motion, as well as a proud transgender woman. Hello Claire!

Claire: Hello Monika! Thank you for inviting me.

Monika: You seem to be a woman of many talents. Could you say a few words about yourself?

Claire: Yes, I can. I'm a sixty years old woman from the Netherlands. I'm married to my wonderful wife and together we have two grown-up kids. With my team at Blits Motion we make movies for companies. And I'm associated with a foundation wherefore I make documentaries about inclusive and diversity subjects.

I'm now preparing a documentary to pay attention to 1000 to 2000 homeless LGBT young people in my country. They became homeless because they were not accepted by their parents. I want to make people aware of this problem because most people have no idea this is happening in our country. And I want to explore whether there is room within the parents' beliefs to accept their child.

Interview with Alison Ashdown

Monika: Today I am going to talk to Alison Ashdown, an inspirational transgender woman from Toronto, Canada. Alison is a fashion model, actress, film writer/director, and transactivist. Her artistic short film “Forever Changed” was produced and released online in 2020. Hello Alison!

Alison: Hello Monika! Thank you for having me!

Monika: You are a woman of many talents. Could you say a few words about yourself?

Alison: Yeah certainly! Let’s see. Well, I love to try new things when I get that passionate interest peaking. It’s how I ended up in modeling, film, fashion studies, and ballet. One day, I asked my friend to do a photoshoot with me and that blossomed into a dream come true with modeling. I’ve been published four times and participated in several runway events.

In fact, at the end of my first year in 2019, I was chosen to walk the runway in Los Angeles for the Equality Fashion Week. Had the time of my life! And with the confidence I gained in front of the camera and on stage, I moved to try my hand at writing a film and subsequently acting and directing it as well. And since then, I moved to Toronto to study fashion management at George Brown College and recreationally train in the Royal Academy of Dance classical ballet program.

Interview with Cameron Laventure

Monika: Today I would like to invite you for a meeting with a talented woman who writes and directs her own movies. Cameron Laventure is an independent filmmaker and writer wi­th an MFA from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Hello Cameron!

Cameron: Hi, Monika! Thanks for speaking with me today.

Monika: How are you holding up in the pandemic times?

Cameron: Quarantine has been hard, but I’ve been luckier than most. My brother Brandon and I co-write and co-direct all our projects, and fortunately, we’ve been able to shelter at home, building a writing portfolio while we search for paid screenwriting work.

It breaks my heart that so many people in my country, including relatives and dear friends, aren’t so lucky. So many of us are exposed to senseless risk because our government won’t just pay us to stay home. I carry a lot of anger over that. I try to channel it into my art, and into activism when I can.

Interview with Victoria Divine

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Victoria Divine, a film director, producer, and performer from Argentina. Hello Victoria!

Victoria: Hello Monika, how are you doing?

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Victoria: I’d like to say that I am someone in constant urge for transforming myself and not just physically when I say ‘transforming’. I mean growing up, learning, discovering. I started to express my gender identity in Argentina, Buenos Aires during the 1970s.

I have been fascinated with trans women since an early age. At that time perhaps I didn’t know that I was one of them but over the years I realized that those spectacular women I used to see were a part of who I am.

Interview with Michelle Ann Farrell

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Michelle Ann Farrell, an American independent filmmaker, known for her work on Safehouse (2008), Bigfoot at Holler Creek Canyon (2006) and On Top (2012) and several other feature films. She has been DP on 17 feature films and has written, produced and sold scripts and has established herself as a professional filmmaker. Hello Michelle Ann!

Michelle Ann: Hello Monika, I’m honored to do this interview. Thank you.

Monika: Were you born with a video camera in your hand?
Michelle Ann: Although I’ve always enjoyed photography and personally owned a video camera once many years back I was not one of those people who made movies as a child. I’ve always enjoyed being creative writing story lines and poetry but not until I was 40 years old did I decide that I was to shoot a movie. That movie of course was “Franky’s Heaven”.
Monika: Before you worked in independent films, she had run a wedding business which involved video…
Michelle Ann: Yes, soon after Franky’s Heaven I had bought my business partners out and decided to use the movie gear and start my own business. In the beginning weddings were the day job but my goal was to one day leave that and do production full time. That’s what I do now, work production 7 days a week either in the office or out making money.

Interview with Living Smile Vidya

Monika: Today’s interview will be with Living Smile Vidya known as Smiley, an inspirational woman from India, actress, film director, the author of the biography titled "I am Saravanan Vidya" (2008), a transgender activist and blogger, recipient of the British Council-Charles Wallace India Trust fellowship to study theater in UK. Hello Smiley! 

Smiley: Hi, it’s my honour to be in your list.
Monika: So, You pursue your career in theatre and cinema. You worked as an assistant director in Kollywood and acted in Tamil theater. Could you say a few words about your movie and theater career?
Smiley: Well, Theatre is always my first love. When I was 19 years old, I decided to be an actress and while doing my post-graduation at university I spent most of the time in the Theater Department rather than my Linguistics Department. So I was able to do a couple of plays. But at that time I was known to my colleagues and classmates as a boy.
After my post-graduation, I went to Pune for my castration and I had to stay there. Once I came back I was challenged to find a mainstream job, and after a long struggle I found a job in a rural bank. And only then I realized that I was the first Transwoman in India who worked in a mainstream job rather than working for NGOs.
Beyond this I wanted to work in theater but I realized that all my friends in theater were not sure how to handle a transwoman as an actress. That was when my autobiography was released and I became quite famous, so some film directors heard about me.