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Perhaps that's a philosophical question..I'm afraid I'm not entitled to answer

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Isn't transgender just a result of a person having very narrow definitions of what a man or woman can be?

Not really...I keep away from politics and related issues!

As this traditional system is much older than the ballroom culture I might hypotesize that the latter might have been inspired by some pre-existing practices and rituals. In this perspective I will add that whenever there are tensions in the community (let's say someone speaking behind someone else) things are discussed and dramatized in front of the others, somehow playing with tensions and dissipating the aggressiveness throughout a ritualized approach

good luck, hope you make it

Have you encountered any apprehension or outright opposition to filming outside of the realm of your work? i.e. the military not allowing you to proceed with camera

Of course making a film like this means also trying to produce some social change: regarding the transgender people themselves we're implementing a partecipative approach, involving them in the realization of the documentary, giving them a voice, and training some of them in using cameras. Then it will be their job to use these skills in an autonomous way. On the other side we would like to show how is such a complicated context a deep social change is actually happening faraway from the much highlighted Kashmiri dispute and the violence that has been affecting the local people in the last decades. In a third perspective we would like to break the stereotypes western people often have about tolerance in a Muslim society, especially considering that Kashmiri Muslims are themselves a minority in in the wider context of India, and they're often depicted as fundamentalists and terrorists.

>It is also interesting to know that they have a guru-disciple social structure, with a complicated network of sisterly relation that makes actually feel we're speaking of a community

It's weirdly simular to like ballroom culture in the west in that regard.

What do you hope to achieve with your film, is it to make it a better place for the transgender people there or what?

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On one side there's an attempt from the community to detach from other forces to represent them...for example a recently appointed government committee for transgender people was questioned as it doesn't involve any community member and it mingles Jammu's (a Hindu majority city in the South of Jammu&Kashmir) and Kashmir's transgdenders demands.

On the other side young generation, also due to internet exposure, is going for gender reassignment surgery, a trend which has created some discontent among the elders, who claim that this doesn't fit in the Kashmiri transgender tradition

It is quite a controversial issue! Actually there's no word for them in Kashmiri language than a slur (Lanch), but when they informally speak to each other they use this same word (almost like afroamericans did with n..., trying to use a transformative approach). When they speak to outsiders they often use the term Hijra, which is anyway related to Hindu transgenders, or transgenders. It is also interesting to know that they have a guru-disciple social structure, with a complicated network of sisterly relation that makes actually feel we're speaking of a community.

Hey!

I was wondering if it's fair to call them the "transgender community" or if their gender expression is just outside the gender binary and "transgender" is just used as a bit of a shortcut to get the point across in a more westernized understanding of gender.

Also, would you say their role in Kashmiri society has expanded with time?

This matchmaking (and performer) status is only related to trans women...It's difficult to predict what this traditional role can lead to when we speak about other trans categories, but I would say that's a starting point. It would be great for example if these people would use their social position to support other LGBTQI+ minorities, but I often see that divisions are strong...for example, as I have written in another comment, when it's about gender reassignment surgery

You said things are changing, in what way

Seeing as these 'matchmakers' are transfem will you also touch on trans people who fall outside of that space ?

I have been living and doing research for a few years there, and attending marriages (where they use to perform) I got to know many of them. Of course it is not easy to access to their most intimate issues, mostly because many of them suffered due to family and friends rejection.... but I believe that whoever we are, when we employ a significant amount of empathy, we can build incredibly strong bridges

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1 I think the biggest surprise is the amount of tolerance I witnessed towards the community considering the troubles that affect the area. In neighborhoods for example I always felt that asking for a transgender person's address has never created any humorous or whatever reaction.

2 The process was quite complicated: making it short...during my phd research I observed how masculine and feminine roles (as victims and perpetrators) are bringing on the vicious circle of violence in Kashmir. So I started to wonder...what about those who are outside this dichotomy? And isn't their interstitial position somehow resembling that of Kashmiris as a whole between Indian and Pakistani discourses? Then things, of course, have moved on!

There are several topics we're going to tackle in the film, but basically we'll try to cover an ongoing emancipation process and self empowerment of the community. This means also creating an autonomy among government's and NGO's attempts to take over their grievances. On the other side there are some generational tensions inside the community itself, for example when speaking about gender reassignment surgery, which is becoming popular among the youngsters, but isn't accepted by elders due to their specific tradition and their Muslim faith. Elders use to claim that changing the body would be against Islam, but some young transgender people assert that this is the way they could even marry according Islamic rules, somehow overcoming the potential stigma of homosexuality and sodomy

Being marriage a crucial moment for most of the people that assures them some amount of respect and visibility. Imagine to have a transgender person performing at almost every marriage you have attended in your life since childhood. That's already a first step towards acceptance. But things are actually quite controversial...at the same time the only Kashmiri word to define them is a slur (Lanch), while the formal term that is used for them is related to their profession: "Menzimiur"(middlemen)

What are the topics that you're going to touch?

What was the biggest surprise you learnt about the transgender community in Kashmir?

What made you choose this topic to focus on/ what is your process for choosing topics?