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The Paradox of (Trans) Visibility: A Conversation with Tre'vell Anderson and Nyala Moon

Friday | November 3 | 5pm

Goodhart Music Room, ������̳

co-presented by: ������̳ Film Studies, Swarthmore Office of Inclusive Excellence, Swarthmore Film & Media Studies, Swarthmore Gender & Sexuality Studies

We’re kicking off Queer Screen at BMC with a conversation between Tre’vell Anderson, journalist and author of We See Each Other: A Black, Trans Journey Through TV and Film, and Nyala Moon, the director, writer, and star of How Not to Date While Trans.

Tre'vell Anderson (they/them) is an award-winning journalist, noted podcast host, and authoress doing world-changing work around society and culture. Named to The Root’s 2020 list of the 100 most influential African Americans, they have dedicated their career to centering those in the margins, grey spaces, and at the intersections of life. Tre’vell co-hosts two podcasts, Crooked Media's "What A Day" and Maximum Fun's "FANTI." Founder and Chief Imagination Officer of the social curation and media production house Slayzhon, they are also the authoress of “We See Each Other: A Black, Trans Journey Through TV and Film” and “Historically Black Phrases: From ‘I Ain’t One Of Your Lil’ Friends’ to ‘Who All Gon’ Be There?’” (September 2023).

Nyala Moon is a director, writer, and actress of trans experience living and working in New York City. Filmmaker Magazine named Nyala one of the 25 New Faces of Independent Film 2023. Nyala was selected to be a part of GLAAD’s inaugural class for New Equity in Media and Entertainment Initiative, and in 2022, Nyala was a recipient of the Newfest’s New Voices Filmmaker grant in partnership with Netflix to Support Emerging LGBTQ+ Filmmakers.

Queer Screen at BMC: Short Film Night

Friday | November 3 | 7pm

Carpenter Library Room B21, ������̳

Enjoy award-winning short films from around the world!

Lucky Fish (dir. Emily May Jampel, 8 min.): Maggie’s family has her entire life planned out: she’ll get into a good university, meet a “nice boy,” get married at a fancy wedding, and raise precocious children. But she wants more for herself than predetermined clichés. When she encounters an enchanting girl at a local Chinese restaurant, she must reflect upon the values and desires that whisper within her.

PICK (dir. Alicia K. Harris, 11 min.) is about Alliyah, an 11-year old girl who wears her afro to school for the first time, on picture day. When it comes time to take her personal photo, Alliyah is faced with the decision of wearing her hair in its natural state or tying it up.

How Not To Date While Trans (dir. Nyala Moon, 14 min.) is a break-the-fourth-wall, dark comedy that follows the dating life of a black trans woman and the problematic men she meets along the way. Andie searches for romance and self-love but ends with heartbreak.

Here, Hopefully (dir. Hao Zhou, 11 min.): Zee, a nonbinary aspiring nurse from China, strives to build a life in rural Iowa, US. After graduating from nursing school, they work tirelessly to pass their licensure exam in hopes of obtaining a work visa.

Grocery List (dir. Joanne Mony Park, 9 min.) is about a queer couple living in the suburbs and all they want is to get out of their house to go grocery shopping. But each time they get close to the door, they find themselves getting pulled away by a number of mundane distractions. With time running out and obstacles mounting, the couple’s everyday issues begin to surface and take on new meanings.

Fran This Summer (dir. M.G. Evangelista, 9 min.): Teenage lovebirds Fran and Angie spend the summer at home while Fran begins their transition. They must face who and what they mean to each other when they visit the beach, their love on display for all to see.

Warsha (dir. Dania Bdeir, 16 min.): Mohammad is a crane operator working in Beirut. One morning he volunteers to take on one of the tallest and notoriously most dangerous cranes in Lebanon. Away from everyone’s eyes, he is able to live out his secret passion and find freedom.

Queer Screen at BMC: The Watermelon Woman

Saturday | November 4 | 7pm

Carpenter Library Room B21, ������̳

The wry, incisive debut feature by Cheryl Dunye gave cinema something bracingly new and groundbreaking: a vibrant representation of Black lesbian identity by a Black lesbian filmmaker. Dunye stars as Cheryl, a video-store clerk and aspiring director whose interest in forgotten Black actresses leads her to investigate an obscure 1930s performer known as the Watermelon Woman, whose story proves to have surprising resonances with Cheryl’s own life as she navigates a new relationship with a white girlfriend (Guinevere Turner). Balancing breezy romantic comedy with a serious inquiry into the history of Black and queer women in Hollywood, The Watermelon Woman slyly rewrites long-standing constructions of race and sexuality on-screen, introducing an important voice in American cinema.

-- courtesy of The Criterion Collection

Queer Screen at BMC: Shiva Baby

Sunday | November 5 | 7pm

Carpenter Library Room B21, ������̳

Open to Tri-Co students, faculty, and staff only.

College student Danielle is faced with a series of awkward encounters at a day-long shiva, a Jewish gathering during a time of mourning. Amongst overbearing relatives, she is rattled by the appearance of an ex-girlfriend and of her secret sugar daddy, who unexpectedly arrives with his wife and baby. Directed by Emma Seligman.