Trans Filmmakers Forge DIY Network as Studios Lag
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- Vera Drew's "The People's Joker" found trans audiences at festivals including TIFF and Fantastic Fest, connecting her with a circle of trans and nonbinary filmmakers (Jane Schoenbrun, Louise Weard, Alice Maio Mackay, Avalon Fast) that did not exist when she started the project.
- GLAAD's "Where We Are in Film" report found zero trans characters in 2025 releases from the top 10 U.S. distributors, a gap these filmmakers attribute to a lack of trans directors at major studios.
- Jane Schoenbrun is the rare trans filmmaker working at the $10 million budget level — their horror comedy "Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma," starring Gillian Anderson and Hannah Einbinder, opened theatrically after a Cannes premiere, with Schoenbrun describing feeling guilt and jealousy as the only openly trans director at that tier.
- Louise Weard's "Castration Movie" anthology has become a hub for this community, with its third chapter — executive produced by Lilly Wachowski — exploring a partner coming out as trans and featuring appearances by Schoenbrun, Drew, and Mackay.
- Drew says she would "love" to make a studio film, but her second feature "Trandemic" just earned a $25,000 grant from the Duplass Brothers' inaugural Found Footage Feature Fund and is still seeking wider distribution.
- Avalon Fast made their debut "Honeycomb" in 2022 for $5,000 with friends and released "Camp," a supernatural horror about a camp counselor, while also acting in peers' films including "Castration Movie," "Camp Miasma," and "The Serpent's Skin."
Why it matters: The filmmakers' mutual support system exists precisely because studios haven't created space for them — GLAAD found zero trans characters in 2025 releases from the top 10 U.S. distributors, and only one openly trans filmmaker (Schoenbrun) works at the $10 million tier. With Gen Z driving theatrical recovery and identified by GLAAD as "the queerest generation of all time," studios are leaving both representation and box-office relevance on the table.
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