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In this episode, I talk with Sam Feder, director and co-producer of Disclosure, a powerful new documentary about how transgender people are represented in Hollywood now streaming on Netflix. Learn the back story of how this film was made, the intense research involved and how Sam met activist and Orange is the New Black actor Laverne Cox, who executive produces the film.

"It has not been easy. We are still hustling hard every day. It's definitely been a little engine that could kind of situation for five years."

"When we were first raising money, we were literally laughed out of boardrooms because our budget exceeded what they expected a documentary budget to be. And that was largely because we paid everyone their day rates and that's part of the standards I am fighting for in the documentary world."

"I feel like our culture is hungry right now. People want to know what they need to learn, they want to know what they need to unlearn. It's great to have this two hour document to give it to you and tell you one place and one area where you need to learn and unlearn. And so people are really receptive to the film so particularly because of where we are in our cultural conversations at the moment."

"Anyone who finished a film should get a huge prize. Making a film is so so hard. To know that it's being held in that capacity, kind of just gives us the boost we need right now."

"One of my dreams was how could lawyers who are representing trans people - how could they use this film to their benefit? And I imagine, my hope, was that they would see this film and then have these cultural short cuts to talk to their jury and be like you might have these stereotypes about my client because of xyz that you saw in this movie and this is why it's not true. And this is a real person here that we're talking about, real experiences. That was a dream of mine."

"This is such a community film and part of my understanding of how people would take in this imagery was to be in community, to laugh together, to feel the emotion together, to hear people sigh at the same time. And then have the conversations afterwards. Like that's so meaningful to hear people talk about it and then go out for dinner and talk about it some more and make connections. So yeah, it's been tricky to readjust to experience the viewer experience virtually."

Sam Feder bio:

Sam Feder has created several award-winning documentaries that center the intersections of race, class, sexuality, and conflict within the queer and trans community. Sam seeks to connect transgender struggles and liberation to the context of the present and legacy of the past by showing that our communal history makes our present lives possible. Sam’s second feature Kate Bornstein is a Queer & Pleasant Danger was named one of the best LGBT documentaries of 2014 by The Advocate, and cited by IndieWire as one of the must-see films of the 2014.

http://www.disclosurethemovie.com/

https://www.samfederfilms.com/

https://www.instagram.com/disclosuredoc/

https://www.facebook.com/DisclosureDoc/

https://twitter.com/Disclosure_Doc

https://www.instagram.com/samfeder_1/

https://www.instagram.com/lavernecox/

https://www.instagram.com/amyjscholder/

https://www.iatse.net/

https://www.instagram.com/lawyer_stories/