Tales of the Waria

A THOUSAND YEARS OF LOVE- runtime 9:44

Wai Hnin and Ingyinn, two young girls in Burma, have a chance encounter and immediately are pulled together by a mutual attraction. Wai is of a volatile, emotional personality and Ingyinn and young and confused. Moreover, Ingyinn is already engaged to a man. But when the attraction between the two girls becomes very apparent, Ingyinn must make a decision while Wai must rein in her own highly volatile emotion.

Director: – Myat Noe. Two shorts from M. Noe. In addition to writing and consulting scripts, and occasional film making, M. Noe serves as a jury member at the Human Rights Human Dignity International Film Festival in Burma.

DIRECTORS STATEMENT: Despite the political transition, the film censorship in Burma still bans sentimental and humanly portrayal of LGBT. This film is made in protest of such repressions.

EVERY MONDAY- runtime: 5:34

Two girls. One is waiting in a hotel room, sexually aroused. The other is sitting in a house, looking dejected. There is a connection between them.

Director: Inaya Graciana Yusuf

is an Indonesian-American filmmaker. She has worked on short documentaries to feature length projects such as Miriam, Amplify: The Story of Synesthetes, Passage to Womanhood, Dhalang and M Throughout the years she worked on projects with clients including HBO, BBC, ESPN, Lifetime, NBC, FOX, PBS, MLS Soccer USA, Climate Reality, Yahoo! and VICE. Inaya’s corporate background in advertising and branding spearheaded her transition from design and motion graphics into filmmaking. Growing up in both Indonesia and United States, her personal work are often driven by her surroundings and revolves around women and children, identity politics and immigration, criminal justice system, contemporary issues in Islam, LGBTQ, and the Southeast Asian environment. She is currently working on her first feature film, The One and The Many. She is an Associate Teacher at MPS Directing (Short Live Action Film) at School of Visual Arts. inding Our Own.

PASSAGE TO WOMANHOOD- runtime: 30 min

A group of Muslim trans women stand their ground against social marginalization in secular Malaysia. Redefining femininity in Islam they are painting their own portrayal of womanhood.

Director: Kathy Huang is an award-winning filmmaker with a strong interest in issues of identity and belonging. Her feature-length directing debut, TALES OF THE WARIA, was co-produced with ITVS and follows a community of transgender women in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country, as they search for romance and intimacy.

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT: When I first read an article about the waria in 2005, I was amazed to learn that a transgender community could exist so visibly in the world’s largest Muslim country. Unable to shake my curiosity, I took several Indonesian language courses and traveled to Indonesia in the summer of 2008 to experience the lives of the waria firsthand. I discovered a world full of contradictions, tragedy, and heroism—one that I knew had to be shared with larger audiences.

TALES OF THE WARIA- runtime: 60 min

At a time when transgender communities around the world are largely ignored or misrepresented in the media, the 60-minute documentary video Tales of the Waria intimately explores how one such community confronts issues of love, family, and faith. Traveling to Indonesia, the world’s most populated Muslim country, the film trains its lens on the warias, biological men who identify as women and are a surprisingly visible presence in a culture normally associated with strict gender divides. Interweaving the stories of several warias who make extraordinary sacrifices for love, Tales of the Waria creates a moving and unexpected portrait of a community that dares to live differently from the norm, despite what consequences may await them.