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How Filmmaking Mirrors the Identity Journey of Trans Storytellers Zackary Drucker and River Gallo

26/08/2024

By Jessica Herndon

Making a film can be unpredictable. Clearance issues may cause a beloved moment to be cut, or a kismet connection could lead to unexpected funding. But no matter what, filmmakers find ways to adapt and make magic.

Adjusting and uncovering the beauty of filmmaking is not unlike the journey of coming into their trans identities for filmmakers Zackary Drucker (The Stroll) and River Gallo (Ponyboi), who spoke about the similarities for Sundance Collab's recent online event Toward Trans Possibilities.

During the conversation with Sundance Institute's Trans Possibilities Intensive founder Moi Santos, both Drucker, who served as a creative advisor during the 2024 intensive, and Gallo, a previous fellow of the intensive and also a creative advisor for this year's program, spoke about identity, the possibilities that can emerge from authentic trans storytelling, and the process of making their films, which Santos notes both serve as visual archives honoring the legacies of trans sex workers.

Drucker's documentary The Stroll, which won a Peabody Award in 2024 and a Special Jury Award: Clarity of Vision at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, details the history of trans sex workers in New York's pre-gentrified Meatpacking District. Directed by Esteban Arango, Ponyboi, which Gallo wrote, starred in, and produced, and which premiered at the 2024 Festival in the U.S. Dramatic Competition, follows a young intersex sex worker who runs from the mob after a drug deal goes awry.

Here are a few impactful moments from their online discussion, which concluded the 2024 Trans Possibilities Intensive program:
LINK: https://www.sundance.org/blogs/how-filmmaking-mirrors-the-identity-jou...
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