Two Pinoys in US produce film on transgenders

By MARCONI CALINDAS

Published January 23, 2012 5:00pm

San Francisco, California- Filipino filmmakers in the United States — Cecilio Asuncion and Joseph Pe — have teamed up to produce the documentary film “What’s the T?” about three transgendered women from San Francisco, California, and New York City.

Asuncion, 35, an alumnus of the Ateneo de Manila University and Gibbs College in New York City, the “T” in "What's the T?" stands for the “Truth.” He told GMA News Online: "What's the T? is common vernacular in the Trans world meaning 'What's the Tale?' or 'What's the Truth?' I felt that this title is befitting because not only do you know what the truth is in the film, you also get to learn about their jargon even just from the title itself."

Filmmaker Cecilio Asuncion with the cast and crew of "What's the T?"

As part of the LGBTQI community, he felt it was his duty to get to know “our trans (gender) sisters.” “The only way one can do that is to learn more about them. I think it's terrible being grouped together in the same acronym and was so uneducated to know about them and the only way to really truly learn was to get to know my trans-sisters,” he told GMA News Online over the weekend. "My main objective is to show that transgendered women are not unicorns or fairytale characters. They're as normal as you and me, and the community-at-large. The bigger objective for me is that one day, documentaries regarding transgender women will no longer be made they will simply be referred to as women," Asuncion said.

Peppe

Pe, on the other hand, said he wanted the audience to empathize with the women featured in the film. “I would like the audience to feel the success of the ladies,” said Pe, the director of the documentary film Pe is known to friends and colleagues as Peppe back in his hometown Valenzuela and in New York City. Pe has had 20 years of experience in film production. He started his career as an onscreen and stage talent for various theater companies in the Philippines. He has been based in the US for over 11 years and currently resides in New York City.

Challenges, successes of transsexual women

“What’s the T?” attempts to explore the challenges and successes of three transgendered and transsexual women. The film is topbilled by:

Cassandra Cass of “The Glamour Girl;”
Rakash Armani Singh of “Up and coming Femme Realness,” and
Victor Le of “The Scholar.”

Asuncion said these women represent normality and abnormality seamlessly in their daily efforts to achieve a balance of the feminine and the masculine. “They are beyond and within the stereotypical male-to-female story that has been told before. This film is not about middle-aged husbands wrangling strained marriages for the sack of identity. It's not about teenagers looking for identity or toddlers embraced by progressive families. And it's not about loners seeking medical solace. The ladies of 'What’s the T?' are reality and self-assurance in identity,” Asuncion said.

Asuncion added that the documentary attempts a blend of the visuals and "attitude" of "Catwalk," Robert Leacock’s iconic documentary about supermodels and the legendary film "Paris is burning." "I have been so sick of hearing about transwomen murdered or as guests at the Maury show on episodes entitled "Is she or isn't she?" I wanted to do a film that will celebrate these women's lives through beautiful filmography not feature them through sensationalism," Asuncion explained.

Film production

The casting for the documentary film started in August last year in New York City and San Francisco.

"Casting was definitely the most enjoyable part of the film making process. The lead characters of the film were based on what they've achieved in their lives. Success, I believe, is defined by one's self. The ladies of "What's the T?" are true successes," Asuncion said. "It's not important to me as a filmmaker as to what their physical transformations entailed. What's important is what they've done with their lives after the fact they've decided to be transgender. How do you think transgendered women are portrayed in the media?" asked Asuncion.

The actual filming began soon after the pre-production started in December last year. Asuncion said the crew has wrapped up the shoot in New York. He expects to finish filming in San Francisco by the end of January. The post-production will start in February. The entire writers, film crew, and producers are affiliated with Scary Cow Productions of San Francisco and Atalyer films of New York City. The full-length documentary feature will premiere during the Scary Cow Film Festival at the historic Castro Theatre in San Francisco on March 3. "We are hoping to do all the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) film fests and then do the community-at-large short film fests and hopefully get into some Oscar-qualifying film fests as well.

For more info about the film, visit the Facebook page of "What's the T?" - VVP, GMA News

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