Winnipeg celebrates the winner of a brand-new pitch competition for gender diverse filmmakers

A trans filmmaker in Winnipeg says he didn’t sleep a wink Thursday night after winning his first filmmaking award.

“It’s just so new for me that it was just very emotional at that time … It was very meaningful,” said Ande Brown.

Brown won the first-ever emerging filmmaker’s pitch competition hosted by OurToba Film Network — a non-profit organization which gives resources and creates space for women, non-binary, and gender diverse filmmakers. As part of Brown’s win, he’ll have help with the cost of gear from the Winnipeg Film Group and Sunbelt Rentals.

“Since my transition I thought, I have all these stories that just seem to want to come out. Now seems the time to be doing that,” he said.

Brown’s pitch for his film called ‘First Shave’ takes him through his own experience as a late transitionist prepping for his very first shave, and said he feels this concept is universally understood.

“When I do the film, it will actually be my very first straight-razor shave. Electric razor, yes, that’s for babies I say. But I want to do the real deal,” said Brown.

“Once you accomplish something that’s very new for you, that feeling that you get of just accomplishment and pride and that you overcame that fear and that you did something that you really wanted to do.”

Kathleen Gallagher, president of the board of directors for OurToba Film Network, says the pitch competition comes at an important time.

“If I’ve learned anything with the political climate over the last few years, is something I maybe didn’t think about is … that there’s a certain fragility to women’s rights, non-binary rights, trans rights, LGBTQ rights, and if we’re not here being a voice, it doesn’t take much for those things to go away,” she said.

As for Brown, he’s ready for a new type of story to represent his community.

“We have a lot of stories that we have to tell because, when we were younger, there weren’t a lot of options. You were kind of pigeon-holed into one thing or another. And stories you did see about trans people always ended with some tragic end,” said Brown.

“I don’t want to make films like that. I want trans people to be shown as the hero. The most stylish person in the room, the smartest person in the room, the person who wins and not always have it be those same old, negative stereotypes that you’ve seen in the past.”

‘First Shave’ is set to film sometime in the next three months and have its premier with OurToba Film Network.