What Color is Blue is a film that has been inside me for a while. It is a feature-length film (approximately 60 minutes) about the internal impotence that we, as queer youth, feel while facing the people, politicians, and organizations that do not want us to exist. It is about the violence waged against not only the bodies of our communities, but also our minds, souls, and spirits. It is about fighting back against the nihilism and depression that the societal pressures force into us, and finding out what we can do and why we need to do it.

What Color is Blue follows a young black trans woman, trying to figure out what responsibility she has to herself and to her community, to take action to defend it. She wanders through the community alongside her non-binary partner. They go to political organizing meetings, visit prisons, perform at DIY art spaces, and eat pizza by the river, all while wondering about the meaning of life and what they should be doing to protect theirs and their friends’ lives.

The film comes from my experience in these communities, as a young trans radical queer living in a working class neighborhood in the city. It comes from my friends being beaten and threatened. It comes from hearing about friends who overdose or take their own life. It comes from friends who fight back politically against their oppressors and the gentrifiers of our neighborhoods and our spaces.

What Color is Blue will be my fourth feature film, but quite possibly my most personal film. I strive to make a queer cinema not about what makes us queer, but about what makes us human. I have often had queer people and characters in my films, but very seldom do I talk about queer-ness. I think at this point, in 2017, it is contrived, and we need to be pushing new narratives and new stories about who we are, not just what we are.

What Color is Blue is already in pre-production, but we need the funds to pay the amazing cast and crew of the film, who are already joining the team. We are making it our goal to hire mainly LGBT and People of Color for our cast AND our crew for the 12 days of shooting.

Diversity initiatives in film have mainly been limited to the people in front of the camera, but as an industry professional myself (I have made my living as a 1st Assistant Camera Operator for 5 Years,) I rarely see that diversity behind the camera. Most film crews are majority straight white men, with a few white women, and people of color. What Color is Blue will have a crew almost entirely of queers/women/ and people of color. This grant will allow us to make that happen, and make sure we are able to build and uplift the careers of the people who collaborate with us on the project.

People want more queer and trans content, even outside of the LGBTQ community. It is my goal to make sure that content is politicized and honest. Our stories aren’t limited to middle class kids coming out to their parents. Our stories are as diverse as we are, and LGBTQ Cinema needs to reflect that. That is what we will do with What Color is Blue.