Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania — Organizers of Reel Q, the sixth oldest LGBTQ+ film festival in the U.S., brought back a previously debuted film for their July summer film screening in response to a crime against a trans girl in a North Side neighborhood.
“Venus,” directed by Eisha Marjara, was first released in 2018 and screened at Reel Q’s annual October festival. The film features Sid (played by Debargo Sanyal), an Indian transgender woman who disccovers during her transition that she has a 14-year-old son.
TJ Murphy, executive director of Reel Q, said the crime directed at a Black trans girl who lives in Pittsburgh’s Observatory Hill neighborhood prompted organizers’ decision to show the film on July 27 in the basement of the City of Asylum.
Earlier this year, a nine-foot tall sign that read “‘Transing’ kids is abuse and homophobia,” was made by a neighbor and hung so it could be viewed from the bedroom window of a 15-year-old trans girl, according to the Pittsburgh City Paper, The neighbor was found guilty of harassment on July 26, the day before Reel Q’s screening of “Venus.”
In support of those affected by the incident, about 300 signs that said “Protect Trans Kids” were hung up around Pittsburgh’s North Side, Murphy said.
“We think we live in a progressive city, we think we’re in a safe space,” Murphy said. “We’re not always [safe]. You do have to be cautious of the world around you but also remember that there are people out there that accept you and who share your same stories.”
2021 was the deadliest year the United States has ever seen in regards to the trans community. According to the Human Rights Campaign, there were 57 reported murders of trans individuals across the country last year, the majority of them trans women of color.
Pennsylvania is also one of 13 states that does not protect its citizens from violence due to their sexual or gender identities, according to the Movement Advancement Project, a nonprofit that tracks LGBTQ-related laws and policies in the U.S.
Reel Q, started in 1982 as the Pittsburgh Lesbian & Gay Film Series, is the longest running film festival in the Pittsburgh area. The festival takes place annually in October with both virtual and in-person attendance options. This year’s festival is set for Oct. 6-15.
Murphy said Reel Q was founded at a time where it was hard to find LGBT representation in films.
“It wasn’t like you could go to Blockbuster and find these [LGBT films],” Murphy said. “It wasn’t like the internet existed so it was important to kind of create these spaces where you could come and see these movies and not only meet people but have a common ground to start relationships and discussions with people. Even to this day, that’s really the foundation of the festival.”
Marjara is not trans herself, but she said she had been following the experiences of her trans friends and other trans people on social media and realized that they were often scrutinized for their identities, which inspired her to create “Venus.”
“I wanted to make a film that did not focus on transness exclusively and on transitioning, or on hormones and surgery,” Marjara said. “I wanted to put the focus on Sid being a very rounded out, three-dimensional human being, who happens to be trapped [in a difficult situation], who also happens to be a child of immigrant parents, who happens to be a woman of color, who happens to also want love.”
When creating a title for the movie, Marjara said she asked herself, “what is the ultimate symbol of femininity?” and came up with “Venus.”
“Venus is a planet and I thought, ‘well, that makes sense, too,’ because here I have a character who doesn’t feel at home in the world and does not feel at home in their body,” Marjara said. “And I thought that would be a wonderful introduction to my character of her saying ‘I am out of this world. I don’t feel at home here.’”
Alexis Jabour, production manager at City of Asylum, said that as a queer person herself, she appreciated “Venus” because the film is not just about the trauma that LGBT people face.
“There’s so much great stupid humor that you can make out of the situational comedy of this trans woman having sired this child,” Jabour said. “Can we just make goofy comedies? Not everything has to be terrible and depressing. That’s real life. That’s not why I’m going to watch a movie. So that was a nice change for this one.”
Sruthi Silvakumar, a graduate student at the University of Pittsburgh who attended the screening, said she also appreciated that the focus of the film is different from other films about trans people.
“I liked the focus on relationships more than the Netflix shows or any kind of shows that we watch that are usually focused on the transition aspect, and not really emotions and complexities around relationships,” Silvakumar said. “Many things were very relatable.”
Marjara said audience members surprise her all the time with what they take away from the film.
“For me, success [is] what people take away even if they just have a little bit more understanding of what it feels like to want to be accepted for who you are,” Marjara said.
“Venus” is available for rent on Amazon Prime for $1.99.
