Kristen Lovell: The Trans Community Deserves to Thrive

[Above: A still from The Stroll, coming to HBO and Max tonight at 9 p.m.]

By Stephanie Ornelas

Kristen Lovell wants you to know that trans people have a history.

This is history we don't get taught in school, Lovell says of her debut feature film, The Stroll, in a Zoom interview.

We don't get taught anything about LGBTQ+ history in school. And because the past 20-something years feel so recent, we're not getting a broader understanding of that time period. I want people to go into the film learning this history and take away that there's all this increased visibility, but I want more than just visibility, she stresses.

I want to see more trans people working, finishing school. Because before it was unbearable to even finish, so to see a trans person come across that graduation line is a powerful thing. We need more doctors, lawyers, filmmakers. We need these things.

The Stroll, which Lovell co-directed alongside Zackary Drucker, tells the history of New York City's Meatpacking District from the point of view of transgender sex workers who lived and worked there. Lovell worked The Stroll for a decade, and in her documentary, which premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, she reunites her sisters to recount the violence, policing, homelessness, and other obstacles they overcame to build a movement.

LINK:	https://www.sundance.org/blogs/director-kristen-lovell-the-trans-commu...
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