(Photo Credit: Claire Kellam - @jk44)

Trans Girls: Raw and Uncut | The Movie is a documentary about a community overcoming the odds and the lives of the women making it happen. It's a blend of documentary filmmaking and specially recorded live comedy, drowned in a cinematic style that promises to make the film as beautiful as it will be hilarious. 

As the only regular comedy show in North America dedicated to trans women, it's a story that only we can tell, but one that is representative of the thousands of trans people around the world finding new ways to reclaim their voices and build communities dedicated to our success. 

(Photo Credit: Dayna - @3berrysmash)

How we got here

I'm Kay and when I started doing comedy in 2023, I had the dream of running an all trans girls comedy show.

The problem? You can't have a comedy show with no comedians. 

So we built the scene from the ground up. 

What started as a workshop between friends and a small community open-mic has exploded beyond our wildest dreams. In just three years we’ve built something miraculous. With shows selling-out non-stop and dozens of girls now in the scene, Trans Girls: Raw and Uncut broke every rule in stand-up to become one of the most successful comedy shows in Vancouver, and in Canada, not just making it to Just for Laughs Vancouver in 2025 & 2026, but selling the most tickets of any locally produced show both years!

(Photo Credit: Dayna - @3berrysmash)

Except that comedy is just the tip of the iceberg. Behind every girl who gets on stage, is an entire lifetime of experience. 

Off-stage, we are navigating careers, leading protests, chasing artistic passions, and doing everything we can to make ends meet as the world crumbles around us, while we, as trans women, get front row seats to the fall. 

This documentary is a view of it all. 

Why Us?

Our team brings together the perfect experience of film, comedy and passion for queer community.

From the very start, I knew this story could only be done right if it was by us and for us, which shaped the people I brought on board from the beginning.

I knew I needed a trans director. So we called Mily (they/them) who, with award winning queer shorts and music videos, has fifteen years of writing/directing experience for sketch comedy, theatre and film.

I knew I needed a trans producer. Which is when we called Erin (they/she/he), a producer with multiple award winning short films touring festivals around the world, who's stand-up show That's Gay Comedy happens to be one of the other most successful shows in town.

And together, we got selected in Canada's most competitive national program funding the first feature length films of the most exciting upcoming filmmakers in the country. I feel confident in saying our team went far above the mark, and you can read more about everyone in the teams tab.

(Photo Credit: Dayna - @3berrysmash)

So Why Us?

Because we’re here to make something unforgettable. Something funny, real, and beautiful on screen, that showcases our local trans community with all the care and passion that they deserve. We are uniquely positioned to tell the stories that punch back against the landscape of anti-trans media, using one of the tools that they've weaponized against trans-women for decades: Stand-up Comedy.

Speaking of the stories... It's time to bring out

The Girls 

Featuring seven trans women, the project follows them both on and off stage, exploring the tightropes each of them has to walk to survive in a political climate of raging transphobia, and the success they've created for themselves in spite of it. 

(Photo credits below to Emily Haibeck - @emilyhaibeck)

Ky Sargeant (Kay) - (she/they)

Ky, known on stage as Kay, is the founder of Trans Girls: Raw and Uncut and has solo-produced the show for the last 3 years, while also hosting an monthly open-mic where she’s developed all the talent she needs for the show. She grew up in Singapore, before coming to Canada for university, and beginning her career as an organizational culture consultant. She found her way into stand-up after feeling jaded about the actual impact her work had. Outside of the show, she is highly active in Vancouver's 2SLGBTQIA+ community both in grassroots activism and serving as the board vice chair of a major BC Charity. Her life is a constant juggle between the different masks she has to wear, whether it’s advocating to the provincial government, leading a protest, or performing to hundreds on stage. 

Jess Lupini (she/her)

Jess Lupini is a writer and filmmaker turned overnight stand-up comedy sensation. From a promising start as a filmmaker with award winning short films, her career finds some stability as the cofounder of a media company focused on science communication, with her spare time spent playing tabletop RPGs as a cast member of a local DnD youtube channel. However, her first time on stage at Trans Girls: Raw and Uncut catapults her into the limelight, as a clip of hers goes mega-viral with tens of millions of views. She now finds herself at a crossroads wondering how long she can keep burning the candle at both ends, spending her days producing videos, her nights hopping comedy clubs, and weekends recording DnD. 

ACACIA (she/her)

ACACIA's life is marked by its duality on and off stage. On it, she’s a legendary figure in the city: A drag performer, host, and producer of The Black Parade, the premier nightlife event for Vancouver’s queer Black community. Off it, she works as a professional corporate fundraiser stewarding high profile donors for the province's largest 2SLGBTQIA+ charity. As an immigrant from Botswana, her story is one of navigating the complexity of what success can and should look like. With a promising future in both the professional and the arts world, she comes to comedy holding many aspirations for the future, but with no clear path decided as the one she might ultimately take.

Kendall Clark (she/her)

Kendall comes into Trans Girls: Raw and Uncut with nearly 7 years of on/off experience with stand-up comedy. However, her most recent entry into comedy is radically different than before as she now comes into the scene as an Indigenous trans woman redefining her voice. She has a deep passion for the craft of stand-up and its history, a unique feature amongst the cast, for whom stand-up is usually just a hobby they have outside their main endeavours. Coming from construction and now working retail, Kendall is determined to prove herself as she chases her dreams in comedy. Yet, the friction continues to grow between the person she's determined to become and the edgy masculine culture she has to navigate while doing it. 

Amy Grindhouse (she/her)

Drag artist, events host, DJ, and veritable darling of Vancouver’s queer nightlife scene, Amy’s effortless charisma endears everyone lucky enough to be around her. From humble beginnings as one of few queer people in her small town, to working full-time as a locally adored performer, by all measures Amy has made her dreams come true. But underneath the glamour is the harsh reality of constant late nights, inconsistent schedules, and living life gig-to-gig, all while you’re expected to be the life of the party. Through stand-up, Amy finds the one stage where the makeup can come off—where she can show up in what she wants and say what’s really on her mind.

Nora Vision (she/they)

A published playwright, drag performer, and theatre artist, Nora is a multi-talented artist looking to find her place as she navigates an environment of increasing competition to secure an ever dwindling amount of arts funding. Taking a day job making ice cream, she spends her time writing, creating costumes, and filling grant applications in the hopes of securing the resources she needs to produce the work that means the most to her. Comedy emerges for her as an outlet where many of those frustrations are allowed to take space, unrestricted by the limitations of funding requirements, organizational mandates, or jury evaluations. 

Natalia Beltran (she/her)

An immigrant from Colombian and best friends with Ky, Natalia attended the very first comedy workshop Ky ran, performed at the very first Raw and Uncut, and has the longest relationship to the show of any subject in the film. Yet Natalia would not call herself a comedian and has decided she does not want to perform at the show filmed for the documentary. Despite her obvious natural talent for it, comedy was never meant to be serious. She’s far more interested to focus on her career as a technical artist for a major video game developer and her real passions as a guitarist/front-woman of a local band. She brings a unique perspective to the film, as someone who can not only speak to the show’s growth from humble beginnings, but what that means for someone who, for herself, never wanted the stage to get bigger. 

The Look and The Style

The film will have a bold, cinematic and elevated style. We want to push the boundaries of documentary through creative lighting and cinematography across all interviews, live performance recordings, and all B-roll.

(Stills below filmed by Mily Mumford - @milygrams)

To control the image, we are bringing saturated, hard lighting into the spaces we are shooting in, as well as using creative filters to create flares, refractions, and prismatic effects.

Our plan is to pre-light interview and show environments where possible, and work with subjects to gain access to personal spaces as needed. Though the limitations of documentary means that we may not be able to light every space we use, especially in some of the girls’ workplaces, we are confident we can create a cohesive style for the project.

Not just observational, not just biographical, but a portrait of a past, present and future of a community told through the unique lens of each participant.

(Lighting and Cinematography references credits: Teen Spirit-Max Minghella, I saw the tv glow- Jane Schoenbrun, Sex Education-Laurie Nunn, Euphoria- Sam Levison (inspired by the photography of Petra Collins), Lawrence Anyway- Xavier Dolan, A Star is Born- Bradley Cooper, Tangerine-Sean Baker, I saw the TV glow- Jane Schoenbrun, Spring Breakers- Harmony Korine.)

Why now?

As of May, the United States government has officially categorized the queer and trans communities as targets for neutralization in their 2026 counter-terrorism strategy.

In 2025, the UK Supreme Court overturned precedent by ruling that allows service providers to exclude trans people on the grounds of sex, while the government slashed funding for healthcare and other supports at all levels.

In Canada, multiple provinces have begun passing legislation targeting trans youth, with Alberta specifically suspending sections of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom to do so, despite numerous courts ruling on the side of trans people.

(Photo Credit: Dayna - @3berrysmash)

And it doesn't stop there. The attacks on the trans community right now are global, highly coordinated, well-funded, and politically motivated. Even in Vancouver, a city that has taken for granted its position on the forefront of progressive politics, there are new crackdowns on our space, new restrictions on name change, and are witnessing conservative parties grow in influence as they try desperately to tear us down.

The reason I started this show, the reason we're making this movie, hell, the reason I've dedicated my entire personal and professional career to supporting my community is because I deeply believe that the future you see is the future you build.

Change doesn't happen because we wait for it. The people attacking us know it, which is why they have spent years building up the influence and the power to take control of narrative. Now, while our economies are struggling, we are watching world leaders profit from division they created, scapegoating racialized people, trans people, immigrants and many more as if we are the problem.

This film is about so much more than stand-up comedy.

It's about what it means to take control of your own narrative. It's about why we need to go beyond our victimhood and take action for each other.

It's about how real people deal with the world around them and come out the other side laughing.

(Photo Credit: Dayna - @3berrysmash)

Where we are now and Why we need you!

The good news is that we have received enough funding to make a really good start on bringing this project to life. 

The real news is that the start is a long way from the finish. 

Even if we could complete production on our initial grant, it does not even begin to cover everything that comes after. We are still looking at editing, post-production, music, licensing, legal, accounting, festivals and more. All in, we are expecting a final budget of anywhere from $200,000 to $250,000 dollars.

This means we need you. 

We are aiming for $20,000 because we have found two private donors who love what we're doing and have agreed to match donations up to that amount. That means every dollar you donate is worth double!

However, the sky is the limit on what we could create with more funding than that. Beyond our goal, more funding would mean more time with each of our participants, more flexibility in editing and post-production, and ultimately more control in how we decide to bring this film to the world. 

Instead of big investors deciding what we can or can't say, we get to keep this project in the hands of our community. 

We get to be to be part of that, together—You get get to make this a success <3

Please share our campaign on your social, email, or tell your friends!

Here are some examples you can copy and paste!

I just found out an all trans girls comedy show in Vancouver has is one the biggest shows in the country, and they are making a documentary about it! You can check them out on @seedandspark: bit.ly/tgirlsthemovie

Y'all have to check out @itsanew_kay and her team. She's built a community of trans women who are taking over the comedy scene in Vancouver, and they are about to make a movie! Follow them on @seedandspark: bit.ly/tgirlsthemovie