Wicked Queer Film Festival: Donna

MTPC is proud to co-present “Donna” – a film by Jay Bedwani,

Directed by award-winning filmmaker Jay Bedwani (My Mother), Donna is an intimate and candid portrait of the inspiring trans activist, artist and performer Donna Personna. It follows her journey to live authentically as herself and to reconnect with her family.

Donna Personna first hit the stage with the legendary Cockettes. Ecstatic lip-synching in San Francisco’s downtown bars is a far cry from Donna’s Baptist upbring in San Jose; now in her seventies, her siblings have never seen her perform or meet her authentic self.

The documentary begins when Donna is offered a chance to co-write a play about an overlooked episode in queer history, the Compton’s Cafeteria Riot, in which transgender women Donna knew stood up against police harassment. She writes a character to be played by a young transgender activist. Praised for her writing and emboldened by her new friends, she heads out of the city to be reunited with her sister, Gloria.

This revealing and uplifting film is beautifully observed by Bedwani and features mesmerising moments recalled by Donna in her emerging writer’s voice. Donna is a film that shows the strength that can be drawn from your community and proves: it’s never too late to find your métier and truly blossom.

MTPC is proud to co-present “Who I Am Not” – a film by Tünde Skovrán.

What makes a male, and what makes a female? Where do we draw the line, and does it really matter? Sharon-Rose Khumalo, a South African beauty queen, plunges into an identity crisis after finding out she is intersex. She needs the guidance of somebody just like her. The only person who will help is Dimakatso Sebidi, a male-presenting intersex activist who turns out to be her complete opposite. The two parallel but divergent stories are an intimate look at the struggle of living in a male-female world, when you are born in-between. Who I Am Not gives a voice to the long ignored and mostly silent two percent of the world’s population: the intersex community.

 

Join Cape Cod Pride on July 22nd from 11-3 at the Hyannis Village Green for music, art, food, a DJ, games, give aways, kids activities and more! Family and pet friendly!

Join the City of Medford on June 25th starting at 4pm outside of City Hall for an evening of pride!

Join the City of Medford on June 1st at 4pm outside of Medford City Hall for a celebration of Pride!

Join Sudbury Cooperative Preschool on Sunday, June 11th from 1-3pm for Family Pride Day!

This year will see even more activities as well as a bouncy house, more food trucks, and a rotating stage with live performances.

  • Food Trucks
  • Bounce house
  • Performances
  • Author Reading
  • Crafts
  • Face Painting
  • Tattoos
  • Raffle to benefit OUTMetrowest
  • And much more!

Wicked Queer: Boston’s LGBTQ+ Film Festival (formerly the Boston LGBT Film Festival) was founded in 1984 by film programmer George Mansour. Wicked Queer is the 4th longest running LGBTQ+ Film Festival in North America and is an all volunteer organization. Our mission is to build community and to celebrate Queer storytelling and filmmaking through the uplifting of voices and stories not yet heard and to present and preserve the vibrancy of our histories.

Wicked Trans: People Living

April 2, 3:30 PM – Bright Family Screening Room at the Paramount Center

These words are the first you hear in this year’s Trans program; “I don’t want to tell this fin’ story any more – this fin’ Trans trauma. We know that story. It’s always there. Like, where’s the story of the people who are really living life?” – Lisa Stephen Friday. Here is a set of short films about people living life.

Tickets: https://www.wickedqueer.org/events/wicked-trans-people-living

A Place of Our Own

April 7, 7:00 PM – Brattle Theatre

Laila and Roshni, two Trans women, are looking for a house after they are evicted from the place they rented. It soon becomes evident that their search for a home is also their ongoing search for a place in this society that wants to keep them away in a section that cannot be the centre. As the search for a home continues, we realise it transcends physical spaces and biological bonds. New friendships blossom and help comes from unexpected quarters.

Tickets: https://www.wickedqueer.org/events/a-place-of-our-own

Joyland

April 8, 2:30 PM – MFA, Boston

The youngest son in a traditional Pakistani family takes a job as a backup dancer in a Bollywood-style burlesque, and he quickly becomes infatuated with the strong-willed trans woman who runs the show.

Tickets: https://www.wickedqueer.org/events/joyland

Heels Over Wheels

April 9, 5:00 PM – Brattle Theatre

A family of Drag Queens and a Transgender woman travel by motorhome to Murcia, a region in rural Spain, to show their support to a kid who suffered a homophobic attack at his school.

Tickets: https://www.wickedqueer.org/events/heels-over-wheels

Mutt

April 8, 7:00 PM – Bright Family Screening Room at the Paramount Center

Within the space of 24 hours, Feña is swept through the extremes of human emotion when people who seemed to disappear when he transitioned are suddenly back in his life.

Tickets: https://www.wickedqueer.org/events/mutt

It’s Open Mic Night at TASSN! Missed our last event but still want to be in community? Had such a good time you can’t get enough?! Join us as we partner with local therapy practice The Meeting Point JP to raise funds for trans asylum seekers. This event will be Sunday, February 19th, from 5-8pm at the Meeting Point in Jamaica Plain.

Doors will open at 5 for refreshments and music by Matheus, performances will begin at 6!

The event will be in person, wheelchair accessible, and have live ASL interpretation. Masks are required and will be provided if needed. Tickets are available for $10 at the link below, but no one will be turned away for lack of funds. There are also 10 open mic slots open for anyone who wants to perform, so make sure to snag a spot and sign up on the Google form here.

Feel free to email kmacewenlicsw@gmail.com with any accommodation needs.

Imagine if the billions of dollars in police budgets were channeled to community care instead.

MTPC joins 140 organizations in the LGBTQ movement to declare: We will not accept anything less than defunding the police and investing in communities.

Join Us

Posted on June 16, 2020