“Passing Ellenville” is a documentary that stays true to its name, as it provides a small passing glimpse of two young people coming to terms with their gender identities amidst the life struggles that surround this process. Produced, written and co-directed by Gene Fischer, and filmed and co-directed by Sam Centore, this 16 minute film captures a brief yet rare and honest portrait of the lives of James and Ashlee: two transgender individuals in their early twenties who must learn to navigate the challenges of transitioning while living in a small, economically depressed town in the Catskill mountains of New York. James, female-to-male, comes from a history of abuse and a string of family problems, while Ashlee, male-to-female, strives to align her Orthodox Jewish faith with her gender identity.
The film explores and exposes a side of transgender youth not seen in mainstream media: the experiences of individuals living on the margins of society, who face tremendous discrimination and hate while barely surviving on government assistance and food stamps. James and Ashlee are just two of the myriad of young trans folk who are openly, quietly living out loud in a small rural community, where worries of violence and safety, acceptance and rejection, permeate their lives on a daily basis.With a population of about 4,000 residents—more than a quarter of whom live below the poverty line—Ellenville has a plethora of government-subsidized housing and cheap rents, and as a result James and Ashlee find themselves stuck in a town that does very little to accommodate their gender transition process.
Presenting a different yet overlooked facet of the trans narrative, “Passing Ellenville” is a riveting documentary that is both refreshing and long overdue. In these changing times where we not only have our stories of coming out—but of staying in, crossing over, being straight or even undecided—Fischer and Centore’s film reflects the shift by which the transgender community is finally gaining visibility; as society approaches the social tipping points of awareness and understanding that it’s an individual’s right to identify where they fall on the continuum of gender expression. Yet above all, it’s the earnest attitudes, self-awareness and bravery exhibited by the film’s subjects that allow “Passing Ellenville” to deeply resonate with audiences, for despite having dreams and aspirations that seem almost unattainable within the confines of Ellenville, Ashlee and James remain hopeful, proud, and determined to lead a better life outside the small-town milieu.
Traveling the independent film circuit, “Passing Ellenville” welcomed a slue of positive reception at New Hope, Rhode Island, Seattle, and the LA Indie Film Festivals, and with interest from a major cable network, Fischer and Centore are in the works to edit a longer version of the documentary. Though the film met its modest Kickstarter goal last October, the filmmakers hope to raise additional funds in order to broaden its distribution reach, as well as incorporate it into schools and educational institutions.
The duo recently conducted a Q&A forum at Baruch College following a screening of the film during GenderFluid week, and will be returning to Baruch in October to show their second film, “All About Amy” during LGBTQ month (Amy was briefly introduced in “Passing Ellenville” as the transgender mentor of Ashlee and James). I had the chance to catch up with Fischer and Centore to discuss “Passing Ellenville”, what inspired them to capture the lives of James and Ashlee, and what they hope their film will contribute to the larger dialogue surrounding transgender identity.
Ashlee and her boyfriend. Courtesy of Sam Centore.
Demi Kampakis: Can you tell us a little bit about this film’s inception—how did you two meet and what was the inspiration for “Passing Ellenville”?
Sam Centore: Well Gene and I had actually met at a lecture given by Dustin Lance Black [screenwriter for the Academy Award winning film Milk] on personal narrative in telling history, and at the time Gene had already started a photo essay on these kids, but wanted to do a documentary. So we had talked about how we could tell these two peoples’ stories in a short documentary form, and the rest went from there.
Had you met the subjects prior to filming?
Gene Fischer: I had already met James after helping him cover the costs to attend the Woodstock writer’s festival, and he soon opened up a world to me through Ashlee, his best friend at the time. It was at this time that we also met Amy. Ellenville is about 40 minutes from Woodstock, the latter being this very liberal, arts community that’s been around since the ‘20s. You can’t get more liberal there…EXCEPT when it comes to LGBTQ issues. It’s just not on their agenda, which is really frustrating. So we’ve been helping the Woodstock festival with implementing LGBTQ programming. You know, if it were something about climate change or politics, you’d get people throwing money at you. But when it comes to LGBTQ issues, it’s a blank stare. It’s kind of amazing in a really sad way, the way it just doesn’t register.
It’s sort of like that ‘old, white-liberal-hippie’ when you talk about liberals in this kind of area. So part of our inspiration certainly stemmed from the question; “What does it mean to be open-minded in this day and age?” It’s no longer just about the economy, war and government politics.
DK: Your comment definitely reminds me of James’ statement in the film, where he says “They have respect for me, and are changing the pronouns, but they don’t really SEE me.” Do you think his point ties into that outdated definition of being liberal; the flawed notion that ‘tolerance’ is enough rather than embracing true acceptance and equality?
GF: I think that’s a really good way to distinguish the two. Having traveled around Woodstock for the past nine years, I see tolerance everywhere. As a forty-something gay man, I had to deal with these issues about 20 years ago, and only now am I starting to see actual acceptance regarding sexuality in this area. But with these trans-identified kids, it’s definitely still tolerance. Even within the LGBTQ community—from those who should be their allies—these kids are still not fully embraced.
SC: When we were filming we were definitely thinking about the ideas of acceptance vs. tolerance and geography, and even though Ellenville is fairly close to the more affluent towns of Woodstock and Hudson, there’s nothing in Ellenville that would make non-residents pass through it. It’s kind of a small, economically depressed town, so there’s not a lot of resources and exposure, especially when it comes to issues of gender identity.
DK: Like Ashlee had said in the film, “this town doesn’t seem to really care about itself”…
GF: Since both James and Ashlee are on Medicaid, the government is paying for their hormone treatments, so that’s one silver lining. But when I first met James he was fighting with all the therapists because he found himself having to educate them on trans identification. So even if you want to help yourself by willing to commit to therapy (which is a necessary step during the transition process), you still have to spend 6 months trying to convince these health professionals to assign you a different therapist, all the while having to correct them when being identified as a lesbian. It’s pretty horrific.
By some miracle, James was able to find an endocrinologist on the Upper East Side who took Medicaid, which is near to impossible when it comes to doctors willing to treat trans people. And luckily, Ashlee also finally found a doctor closer to her hometown. Having to consistently travel to the city puts such an immense financial burden on both of them.
SC: Yet at the same time we’re watching both be extremely resourceful due to their past and present circumstances, which is very humbling to witness.
DK: Your film really sheds light onto the experiences of being trans while living in an impoverished town—that cross-section of marginalization, if you will. How do you think James and Ashlee would learn to navigate their trans identity if they lived in a more urban setting?
GF: We started noticing that when taken out of his environment, James maintained his assertion over his identity. At the end of the film he says, “This is where I am, but I’m not going to change.” With James, there’s definitely a confidence in the way he aligns himself, and regardless of his environment or the prevalence of masculine traits he still strongly identifies as a man. Whereas Ashlee has trouble identifying as a woman, and really needs a boyfriend or makeup, clothes etc. to help her feel feminine.
DK: Speaking of, I noticed how throughout the film, Ashlee would throw around these self-deprecating and politically incorrect terms to describe herself, such as “tranny”. What does it mean in terms of progress for trans equality when a member of the community employs such terms? Do you think this is a direct result of the environment she lives in?
SC: In Ellenville, you have to take it out of an offensive context because there’s much less nuance, you know? Like when she’s angry she blurts out, “Do you want me to look like a manly tranny?!” There’s less of a filter and ‘sensitivity’ amongst the small queer community in this town… the brevity of self-deprecation is less of an issue for them, which is certainly a reflection of their surroundings, yes.
I mean, we’ve showed people the film where they’ve asked “Do you really want to show people this film, isn’t Ashlee somewhat of a bad influence?” But I think it’s important to show someone like her and someone like James, to reveal the full spectrum of personalities.
GF: She’s definitely a product of her environment. She doesn’t really have a sense of what it means to be politically correct, because she’s in a town that essentially traps and sucks her in. Ashlee wants to leave, but at the moment she’s homeless and couch-surfing. How is she able to attend support groups and meetings to better educate herself, when these meetings take place in the next town over? Residents of Ellenville can barely afford cars, let alone find a way to travel out of town when there isn’t any sophisticated form of public transportation whatsoever. And I don’t think Ashlee’s case is unique at all.
DK: On that note, the tone of “Passing Ellenville” is very reminiscent of Boys Don’t Cry in terms of identity, struggles, and socio-economic oppression. Even though “Passing Ellenville” is a documentary, did that film ever cross your mind when shooting?
GF: It didn’t actually, but it seems like Brandon had much more wherewithal of both his circumstances and identity than Ashlee does.
SC: I think it’s very important to not edit out moments of Ashlee struggling to use language in a positive way. It serves as a reminder of the “more rough around the edges” aspect of the trans community, because those personalities exist everywhere.
GF: This is, in fact, a documentary—and I think I used to be more sensitive to that fact whenever Ashlee would curse, or employ crass terminology. Hopefully audiences will be smart enough to understand where’s she’s coming from, and what has propelled her to say the things she says. As Sam said, you can’t edit out these moments, because then the film would lose its authenticity. She simply doesn’t know, or have the resources to understand—it’s just not in her purview right now.
DK: Do you think that the movement for trans equality has become what the gay rights movement was years ago?
GF: I think it should be.
DK: Have we reached that point yet?
GF: I think it’s just starting. When I started the photo project about 6 months before working with Sam, there really was no mention of this at all. Now you have OITNB, and I remember The New Yorker did a profile of a 16 year old FTM named Skyler who had the utmost support from his parents during his transition, so it’s certainly starting. There are many organizations trying to bring trans awareness to the state assembly in the same way gay rights have been, and they just keep getting shut down.
DK: It seems that the mainstream represents the transgender community in this very urbane, sophisticated context. Take Laverne Cox, for example, who is incredibly intelligent, articulate and talented and has essentially become the face of the community, and rightly so. Yet we fail to see other personalities be represented; as though a perfectly polished persona is the only way to legitimatize the movement in the eyes of nay-sayers. It seems slightly over-compensatory, but what I love about your film is how you explore a more humanistic aspect as well, to encompass the entire spectrum. Was this the dialogue you wanted to achieve for the film?
SC: Well, I think you said it perfectly! [laughs] But yes, we were actually discussing Laverne Cox recently, and how she’s almost portrayed as this sexy, foxy ‘glamazon’ compared to the other prisoners. Which is why we included the footage where Ashlee admits that for her, being transgender means adhering to that picturesque image. However, those scenes also have a subtext to them—that such perfection is unrealistic and by no means the sole criteria for trans identification.
GF: For Ashlee, that glossy image is her own personal way of finding acceptance. And James is the exact opposite, which is partly why they no longer speak to one another. The two used to be inseparable, and once James started his hormone therapy he became much more comfortable in his own skin, and as such started fighting Ashlee and her belief systems. Which is really sad, because the two could really use each other.
DK: Ashlee comes from an Orthodox background, and she struggles in aligning her gender identity with her faith. Does Ashlee receive support from the Orthodox Jewish community where she lives?
GF: Sort of. There are different levels within Judaism, and even so within the Orthodox community. There’s a very strong conservative faction within Ashlee’s temple, but there are also people who are more open-minded. It was heartbreaking to witness Ashlee not being allowed to sit with the other women. Finally, Ashlee’s friend/foster mother went to the local ACLU and notified them that Ashlee had felt uncomfortable and threatened. In turn, the organization wrote a letter to the synagogue, and Ashlee was ultimately allowed to sit with the other women.
Ellenville is a heavily Jewish-populated town, and on the outskirts of town live many of the older residents who are part of the Jewish community.
SC: As you see in the film, the town center is pretty run down, but the outskirts more so resemble the suburbs; where the homes at least have lawns—
GF: —but closer to town, the majority of residents are on welfare, many of them are drug addicts, etc. There isn’t as much of a Jewish presence there. I remember going one Friday afternoon to my car to get equipment, and was harassed by drug dealers who thought I was filming them. They were selling drugs to two moms in a minivan!
SC: We say ‘Oh, you know Ashlee would obviously be more accepted if she lived in a place like Manhattan’, for instance. But you also wonder if Ashlee even lived in one of the more suburban areas on the outskirts of town, would she be more accepted in the synagogue? Is it just gender, or is it gender and income? Plus, Ashlee’s synagogue asks for member contributions, which she simply cannot afford.
DK: Has Ashlee reached that state of peace between her religion and her gender identity?
SC: I feel that she has reached that peace within herself, but I also think that what gives you a sense of identity in a religious context is the community you’re surrounded by, and in that sense Ashlee is still fragmented.
GF: You still see that fragmentation even in the way she dresses. For the first 8 months of filming Ashlee would wear what she called her “Jewish outfit”, which was a long denim skirt to the ground, sleeves that covered up her arms, and her Star of David. As her transition was progressing, Ashlee started doing a lot of laser hair removal and other procedures that made her look more feminine, and subsequently began to dress less religiously.
She goes back and forth a lot: either she identifies as an Orthodox Jewish woman, or as the girlfriend of someone. She still refers to her ex-boyfriend as her husband, it helps her identify as a woman if she can say she’s with a man, which is somewhat unfortunate considering her choice of suitors.
DK: So what’s the next step going forward?
SC: Well aside from working our regular jobs [chuckles], we’ve begun to film Ashlee more in depth, it’s amazing to see her grow and evolve and come into her own.
GF: We’re going deeper into her story with her religion, her relationship to her foster mother, and basically just viewing Ashlee in a different light. Plus, we’re working on increasing our distribution through more film festivals and possibly a cable network, as well as reaching a wider audience with our upcoming documentary on Amy. We’re very excited.
http://vimeo.com/100778369
Featured Image courtesy of Sam Centore.
