The story of Colette Johnson-Vosberg’s latest film, Unlabelled, premiering this week at the Inside Out 2SLGBTQ+ Film Festival, began during the production of her previous film, Unusually Normal—the story of three generations of gay women in one family. The film’s broadcaster, OUTtv, were big fans of the documentary, and were eager to fund Johnson-Vosberg’s next project. But some of the footage from Unusually Normal, captured at a high school, was still on the filmmaker’s mind.
“One of the kids there was trans and had a heartbreaking story about how they were bullied and trying to find their way in their life without really having family support. It tugged on my heartstrings,” Johnson-Vosberg says. “I later found out that they grew up, they transitioned, and were living a very fulfilled life.”
This led her to connect with three members of Toronto’s trans community who graciously share their stories in Unlabelled. Each in different stages of their transitions, Lucah, Emery, and Lucy open up about identity and gender dysphoria, their experiences with hormone therapy and gender-affirming surgery, and their unique paths to becoming the extraordinary individuals they are today. The doc highlights the diversity of trans experiences, sharing not only the painful moments of their journeys, but also the abundance of joy, love, and community each has found.
Now more than ever, we need films that tell trans stories honestly and thoughtfully. In the time it took to make this film, new policies south of the border have threatened the rights of trans, nonbinary, and intersex individuals. Creative work that fosters understanding and empathy, and hopefully sparks change, is what we need right now.
As an Inside Out media partner, SheDoesTheCity is proud to co-present the world premiere of Unlabelled at the festival on May 25. Enter our giveaway to win tickets to the screening! Ahead of the premiere, we sat down with Johnson-Vosberg to discuss all things Unlabelled.
Lucah, Emery, and Lucy shared so much with you and opened up about some of the most vulnerable moments of their lives. What was your approach to going into these conversations to help them feel comfortable?
When I first met them, my approach was just to have an open heart, and to see them as who they were. The story that I wanted to tell wasn’t just about them being transgender and what that meant, it was the evolution of their life and how each one has a happy ending in their own stories.
I really wanted to talk to them about what’s happening today. You need the past in order to put their story into context, but I was really interested more in who are they today? For them, that was an important thing to talk about—that’s what they wanted to say to audiences. And I have high integrity. I think that that’s really important as well, to have that integrity that I’m going to tell their story as honestly as possible.
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What was something you learned from Lucah, Emery, and Lucy throughout this process?
The thing that keeps haunting me, and it was in both films, Unusually Normal and in this one, is just how much fear they all lived in at one point. They were afraid to be who they were. They knew that they were different, but they didn’t know how. Lucah was really lucky. He had a fabulous family who was very supportive, but Emery and Lucy did not, and so they actually didn’t find their community until much later in life. Each one may have started off in fear and not being able to be who they who they knew they were, or were trying to figure it out, but in the end, they found their sense of community and people who love them, and they were able to become the people who they want to be.
With the current moment we’re in politically, especially in the U.S., the rights and freedoms of trans people are under attack. With your doc premiering now, was this something that was on your mind while making Unlabelled?
When we embarked on the filming of it, Trump had not come into power. Even though it was sort of on the back of everyone’s minds that the states could be changing, it didn’t play a huge role. But now, with today’s climate…I have submitted this film to film festivals in the States, but whether I would travel there—I doubt it. Lucy will not travel…she would fear for her life. It’s a scary time to have a film like this one that talks about being transgender but it’s also really important in today’s climate.
We see clips of Emery’s burlesque performance throughout the film, and it’s such a powerful note to end on. Can you share what you feel this element adds to the story?
When I first met Emery, one of the things that intrigued me was their burlesque dance. When they first came up with the idea and were learning how to burlesque dance, it was a story arc already about their life and transitioning. And so I thought, what a great way to be able to tell the story, using their dance and fitting it in as an element to help tell the story of all three subjects. Lucah, Lucy, and Emery are all creative people. So when I told them that I wanted to have some fun and play on the stage and with the lighting and do performance art pieces with the camera, they were all on board. It created an artistic way of trying to tell a serious story. I really wanted to make a beautiful film and an artistic film, and hopefully I achieved that.
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How does it feel to be premiering another film at the Inside Out Film Festival, only one year after your previous film?
It’s so welcoming to have my second film here. I’m so excited that Inside Out selected this film, and it’s kind of reassurance too. I didn’t really know, with the performance piece of it, and the staged piece of it, just how people would accept that. But the feedback that I’ve been getting has just been marvellous, and it to have it at Inside Out is just an affirmation that it was the right way to go and the right way to tell the story.
What is some of the feedback you’ve received?
How beautifully shot it is, how engaging each character is, and that they’ve learned something. I’ve showed it to a few people who went, “Yeah, I learned something.” That’s really nice to hear. With documentary, you always hope that someone’s going to learn something, but that it’s not dry.
What do you think will resonate most with viewers?
I’m hoping that the story emerges as one of hope. Of being able to be the person who you want to be and finding people who can help you become the person who you want to be. Thankfully, in Canada, we’ve got the human rights, we have that support. I think it’s a story of hope, and that’s what I’m hoping people will get from the film, as well as a better understanding of being transgender and what it means.
When Lucah talked about how we all have our labels, but we’re so much more than our labels, that really resonated with me. If people can look at this film and come away with a better understanding and more empathy and compassion towards each other, I think that would be a wonderful goal to achieve.
Unlabelled screens at the Inside Out Film Festival on May 25 at TIFF Lightbox, and virtually on May 26. Tickets are available here.
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