Foot-loose in Rome

(A post from 2012, edited & corrected in 2013)

 

I was in Rome for a meeting that was supposed to finish around 4 PM. Since these days the sun sets around 5.15 PM, it meant that I was going to have about one hour of daylight for visiting some places after finishing my work and before taking the train back home.

Rome is one of my favourite cities. Almost every stone that you bump against in Rome, has usually a history of at least thousand years. So every time that I can, usually I try to visit some new place in the city.

There are certain parts of the city centre in Rome that go from Piazza del Popolo through Spanish steps and fountain of Trevi to Piazza Navona and Fatherland's Alter, that I can visit every day without getting tired.

I am also a bit quirky, in the sense that I usually set myself some rules when I visit a city. Sometimes, these rules are linked to photography - like when I decide to focus on a particular colour, and wherever I see that colour, I click its pictures. On this visit, my rule was - No transport, only walking.

So, come and join me on this tour to some parts of Rome, the eternal city.

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The map below shows my tour-route in Rome. The part in blue is my walk in the morning for going to the meeting. The part in red is my visit to the city after the meeting. I think that altogether, in this tour I walked for about 10 km.

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The high speed train from Bologna to Rome took a little more 2 hours. When I arrived in Rome, it was 9.15 AM. My meeting was going to start at 9.30, so I walked briskly, turning right from the station and then taking Via Goito.

Though it is a relatively new residential area, without many historical buildings, still I like to keep my eyes open to look for any interesting places that may be hidden on the way. Like the statues and old church in via Cernaia. I could not resist the temptation to look at those statues. It made my walk a little longer.

On Via XX settembre, a busy street, I was surprised to find orange trees full of fruits. In Europe, often people don't pluck fruit from trees along the roads, preferring to leave them to rot. However, with all the beggars and immigrants in Rome, it was surprising that those trees had so much fruit!

In Fiume square, I saw an interesting looking old building. It seemed to be from 15th or 16th century. However, there was no time to stand and look at it properly as I was running a little late for my meeting.

After the meeting, I quickly walked to Villa Borghese museum, determined to take advantage of every remaining minute of daylight. Villa Borghese is a 16th century building from noble Roman family. It is surrounded by acres of beautiful parks, full of things to see including some lakes and many statues.

The splendour of Borghese family led to the use of the word "borghese" (bourgeois) as a synonym decadent life-styles of the rich, used frequently by communist ideologues all over the world.

There was no time to visit the art museum or the zoo that are located in the gardens of Villa Borghese. It was nice to walk in the middle of grassy meadows where children were playing and dog owners were out for their evening walks. I looked around for any statues, fountains and interesting buildings.

The evening darkness was not very helpful, but still I clicked a lot of pictures, that will be useful for my photoblog in the coming days!

By the time I arrived at the Pincio terrace (pronounced Pinchio), overlooking the Popolo square, sun was almost down and lights had come on. There was a beautiful sculpture exhibition by Mexican artist Javier Marìn on the terrace. It included giant sculptures of terracotta heads and wonderful statues of horsemen on top of columns. The view of the dome of St. Peter's church, seen through the sculptures of Marìn was incredibly beautiful.

I was mesmerized by those sculptures and the views from the terrace. So I spent a lot of time gazing around and clicking pictures. Finally I climbed down the hill to the Popolo square. The Egyptian obelisk with fountains and the statues on the sides of the Popolo square, glowing in the evening lights, looked like a set from Benhur or Ten Commandments.

After spending some time admiring the Popolo square, I finally took Via del Corso to S. Silvestro square. Via del Corso was full of people, which surprised me. It is true that it was a Saturday evening and Via del Corso is a traffic-free street, so crowds were bound to be there. Still I was not expecting it to be so packed with people.

Outside a church on Via del Corso I saw a young woman asking money to people. Though she was begging, she had her dignity. She had her own folding chair on which she sat primly with a bottle of mineral water, to ask for money. It made me smile.

I had already been walking for almost three hours and my feet were starting to hurt. So I sat down in S. Silvestro square and rested for a few minutes.

A short walk from S. Silvestro square brought me to Trevi fountain, my favourite place in Rome. The only time, I manage to find this place without too many tourists is very early in the morning. This time it was evening and it was full of people.

By now my feet were hurting seriously and I was tempted to take the metro to finish the last part of my Rome walk. Somehow I resisted the temptation and took Via Barberini. When I reached Repubblica square, I was glad that I had not taken the metro, because with lights, the central fountain was absolutely wonderful.

I reached the Termini railway station just in time for my train. My feet were almost numb with pain, so it was a relief to sit down in the train and put up my feet on the foot rest. It had been a long day, but I was very satisfied with my Rome walk.

I have another meeting later this month in Rome, and I am already making plans for other places to see during my next visit.

***

My best images of horses

(A post from 2012, edited & corrected in 2013)

 

As the title says, this post is about the best images of horses in my picture archives.

The idea of this post came a few days ago, when I was in Rome. It was evening and I had walked through the gardens of Villa Borghese, and reached the Pincio terrace. There was an exhibition of the sculptures by the Mexican artist Javier Marìn, including some sculptures of horses. The evening light, the view of Rome skyline and the horses lined up as a medieval army marching on to Rome, they had all combined to make it an incredible emotional experience.

Thinking about that experience, came the idea of putting together my favourite images of horses from my picture archives. Thus, here are 25 of my favourite images of horses that I have selected for this post.

(1) The first image is of St. Nicholas, the patron saint of Cech republic, from Prague. Warriers on their horses have been a popular theme for cities to show off their glorious pasts. Most images of horses reflect this very male way of celebration of national pride. Usually women are missing from such sculptures, or they are sometimes shown standing close, looking with admiration towards the great warriors.

(2) The next two images are from Cape Town in South Africa. The first one has two naked young men with a horse in the middle. Once again, here horse is a symbol of male power and strength. Again this is a common way of expressing power of youth by putting together a horse with a nude male figure, as you will see from many images below.

The second image from Cape Town is that of an old style merry go round for children. I like the three horses with 3 different expressions of this image.

(4) The next two images are from Geneva in Switzerland. Both are from the garden on the left bank of Le Man lake. It is a beautiful stretch for a walk that brings together lake and gently rolling hills on one side, verdant grass, beautiful flowers and art pieces on the other. If you are ever in Geneva, remember to keep at least half a day to explore it.

The first image has once again a horse with a nude young man.

(5) I love the artististic horse of the next image from the lakeside in Geneva. The two ridges on its snout, expressing man's control and domination of the animal, touch a deep emotional chord in me. In the beauty of its art, I feel the anguish of the animal.

(6) The next image is from India and is the only female figure sitting on a horse like a warrior. I saw this statue in Agra. It has Jhalkari Bai, the soldier in the army of Rani Jhansi in the fight against the British in 1857. She had dressed as the Queen of Jhansi to create confusion among the British soldiers.

(7) The next two images from Lisbon in Portugal and are supposed to glorify Portuguese warrior-kings. I like the background of the castle behind the horse.

(8) The warrior king on his horse from Lisbon, Portugal. In front of the sea, this is one of the most beautiful squares in Portugal and rich details of the staute express the colonial power.

(9) The next six images are from London (UK), a city rich in equestrian statues. The first one is a Roman statue, with a nude man sitting on the horse. I love the way the light from the transparent dome of British museum, gives this marble statue a distinct greenish tinge.

(10) The stylized horse and the nude man sitting on him from Kensington gardens in London is another favourite.

(11) The head of the horse in Marble Arch in London is both horrifying and magnetic. It reminds me of a scene from Mario Puzo's famous book Godfather.

(12) New parts of London around Greenwich are full of glass and steel skyscrappers all around the river Thames. This image has the half man and half horse figure from the Greek mythology.

(13) The next image is from a road near Piccadilly in central London. I like the way the General sitting on his horse seems to be admiring the Greek looking paintings on the house.

(14) The next image has once again a children's merry-go-round, this time it is from Covent Garden in central London.

(15) Next image has the Mongolian hero Changis Khan, not far from the national capital Ulaan Baator in Mongolia. This statue is huge and there is a lift inside it, just like the statue of Liberty in New York. So you can go up the statue and take a walk along the man's crown and along the back of the horse.

(16) Next image, once again from Mongolia, is the only image of a living horse in this collection. I often take picture of horses in the countries I visit, but somehow I have never managed to take a picture that I really like. The only exception to this was in Mongolia, where I took many pictures of Mongolian pastors going around on horses, that I had liked. From those images I have chosen this one as it gives an idea of vast open spaces, where lives of animals and people are closely intertwined.

(17) The next 4 images are from Vienna in Austria. Like London, Vienna is also very rich in equestrian statues, expressing the power of its kings. I like the green colour of Bronze statues very much.

(18) The image below is a close up of the image above, the patterns created by the green of oxidized bronze are easier to see here.

(19) The next image from Vienna is the only one where the man sitting on the horse is expressing wealth rather than warrior's power and courage. In a way those noble men with their wigs and fineries were the precurosrs of metrosexual men of today.

(20) The last image from Vienna is a variation on the horse with the youthful nude. Somehow this nude figure gives me an impression of being a woman, but I am not sure about it.

(21) The next image is from a Buddhist temple in Hanoi, Vietnam that shows a paper horse made as an offering at the temple. Such paper animals are burnt as part of prayers.

(22) The next four images are from Italy. The first one is from Assisi and has St Francis as a child from a noble family sitting on his richly decorated horse. Both the man's and the animal's posture reflect introspection, the desire to leave the world's possessions and to devote their lives to spirituality.

(23) The next image is from Capitol hill in Rome, and it has the mythological figure of Castor, one of the twins of Gemini constellation, guarding the entrance to the building.

(24) A detail from the beautiful Trevi fountain in Rome that has a man with the conch and his horse. This figure also looks mythological, though I am not sure if it represents a specific figure.

(25) The last image of this collection is that of sculptures by Javier Marìn on Pincio terrace in Rome, that had triggered off this reflection and this post about horses.

Just looking at this image gives me goose pumps as it reminds me of my experience from that evening in Rome.

So I hope that you have enjoyed this trip through images of horses from different countries, as much as I have enjoyed putting it together.

If you want to read my diary of the Rome visit that stimulated this post, you can read it here.

***

Terracotta dreams

(A post from 2012, edited & corrected in 2013)

 

Clay is a wonderful medium to create extremely natural looking and humanistic sculptures. The art of baking clay to create terracotta sculptures goes back to prehistoric times. My first introduction to terracotta art was in Xian in China, when I had visited the famous two thousand years old, buried terracotta army. This art of making terracotta continues to be alive and significant even today. (Image below: a medieval terracotta on the façade of a small church in Bologna).

In this article, I focus on development of terracotta sculptures in Emilia part of Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy (shown in the map below in yellow colour) , especially in the regional capital city of Bologna (BO), over the past nine hundred years.

Introduction

The practice of making terracotta sculptures goes back to prehistoric times. Prehistoric terracotta female figurines were uncovered by archaeologists in areas of Europe around Black sea. Similar female figurines and phallus like objects were found in excavations of Mohenjo-daro (3000-1500 BC) in what is now Pakistan. The army of terracotta soldiers buried in the tomb of emperor Qin in Xi'an (China) is from 210 BC.

The word "terracotta" comes from Italian and means "earth baked" and is used for clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic. Emilia region in northern Italy has a well developed tradition of making terracotta sculptures that goes back to the early Gothic period, that is, from around 1200 AD.

A brief history of development of different sculpture styles in Italy

Roman empire took inspiration from the earlier Greek traditions and created a Roman style of arts and architecture. In terms of sculptures, the Roman period saw the creation of monumental sculptures made of stone. Around 500 AD, with the decline of Roman empire, different parts of the empire developed their own art and architecture styles. Thus Carolingian style developed in 8th and 9th centuries, followed by Ottonian style in 9th and 10th century Germany and by Romanesque style in the 11th century.

In these pre-Romanesque and Romanesque periods, separate individual sculptures were not very common. The sculptures usually appeared as part of capitals of the columns or as bass-relief on the walls, especially above the doors. These sculptures were made in a stylized forms, such as those inspired from Byzantine icons and represented idealised notions of beauty rather than attempting a faithful representation of the reality.

Early Gothic style in 12th century finally saw greater attention towards sculptures, that developed from bass-relief to a gradual separation from the walls. By 14th and 15th century, individual sculptures, both religious and secular, appeared in different parts of Italy. Another important change in this period was the shift from the stylized forms of sculptures based on ideals of classical beauty to more natural looking sculptures that resembled actual persons. This transition became complete during the renaissance period.

While in the big cities of medieval Italy, like Naples, Rome and Florence, the sculptures were made from stones such as marble, in the Emilia region to the north of Florence, marble was not easy to find, while different kinds of clay was abundant and was thus used frequently in the urban architecture. For this reason, the traditions of terracotta sculptures took roots in different parts of Emilia.

Traditions of terracotta sculptures in Emilia

Valeria Massano, a teacher of history of art explains that depending upon the composition of the clay, after firing, the dried terracotta statues change colours. Thus, in Emilia there was a tradition of covering the terracotta statues with some paint such as a marble coloured paint.

From bass-relief to individual sculptures, terracotta allowed Emilian sculptors to create art work of great originality and expressivity. Niccolò dell'Arca (1435-1494), Guido Mazzoni (1450-1518), Alfonzo Lombardi (1497-1537), Antonio Begarelli (1499-1565) and Cesare Tiazzi (1743-1809) are some of the better known artists who worked with terracotta sculptures in Emilia region.

Evolution of terracotta sculptures in Bologna, the capital of Emilia region, are presented here through some examples to illustrate the development of this art form over a period of over seven hundred years.

Students at the medieval university in the St Francis church of Bologna

The St Francis church built in 1236 is the first example of Gothic architecture in Bologna. This church was also the site where students of arts and rights at the Bologna university set-up in the 11th century, used to meet. From those days, the church has tombs of many illustrous university teachers.

The church has many bass relief sculptures on the tombs of the teachers, showing the university life in medieval Bologna.

One of my favourite bass-relief sculptures from St Francis basilica church is on the south-west wall of its inner courtyard surrounded by a simple portico. It shows a teacher explaining in the class, while a few students are studying, a couple are talking and one is playing. The 14th century bass-relief brings alive a class room of seven hundred years ago and it is remarkably similar to some present day classrooms.

Another distinctive feature of this church are "glossatori tombs", of the professors of language (literally "glossatori"means those who work with words, and is the origin of words like glossary). These brick and terracotta tombs have conical constructions on the top covered by smooth, green coloured ceramics.

Inside, this church has the tomb of the pope Alexander V from 1482 made in terracotta. During the reign of Napolean in Bologna around 1796, the church was turned into a custom house. So if you are visiting Bologna, do not forget to visit this unassuming looking church.

The death of Jesus by Niccolò dell'Arca at Santa Maria della Vita church of Bologna

Over the next two hundred years, as the artists started experimenting with individual statues, one very interesting group of terracotta sculptures were made by a sculptor called Niccolò.

The sculptor Niccolò da Bari, born in 1435 came to Bologna from south of Italy. He became famous as "Niccolò dell'Arca" after creating the famous arch for the tomb of St Dominique in Bologna. Some time between 1465 and 1490, he created a group of 7 terracotta statues, including the dead Jesus and a group of persons crying around him. The statues are larger than life size.

The sculptures of Niccolò dell'Arca are masterpieces of human expression, especially the statues of the two women, Mary and Mary Magdalene. The two women are shown with their mouths open in an eternal shriek, their faces screwed up in sorrow, their clothes flying behind. It seems difficult to believe that these two statues are made of terracotta, they look as if actual persons were turned into clay suddenly, their bodies frozen in eternity.

These extremely drammatic statues of the two women expressing their grief are very uncommon in the Italian art from that period. Usually, the grief around the dead body of Jesus is shown throgh sad but composed faces,as you can see from another group of terracotta statues showing the same scene, at St Peter's church of Bologna. Compare the expressions of the women in this second group of terracotta statues with those of the Niccolò dell'Arca's statues above and you will understand why Niccolò is considered special.

The "crazy mother" by Arturo Martini

Arturo Martini (1889-1947) was born in Treviso and made some interesting sculptures with terracotta during 1928-32 such as the "Crazy mother". He studied in Munich and Paris, and was influenced by the futuristic movement.

His terracotta work shows the evolution from the drammatic realism of Niccolò dell'Arca to a more abstract rappresentation of human emotions.

"The twelve months" by Nicola Zamboni at Villa Spada in Bologna

Villa Spada is a noble family house from fifteenth century in Bologna, that has some wonderful Italian gardens, with plants cut into geometric shapes. The villa was renovated in 1980s and was converted into a textile museum. Nicola Zamboni , a contemporary sculptor from Bologna, was asked to create a set of statues for its gardens.

Zamboni born in 1943, worked with famous British sculptor Henry Moore in the 1970s. Since then he has evolved his own distinctive style of art. He works with different materials including wood and bronze. However, the group of terracotta statues that he has created for the gardens of Villa Spada, are my personal favourite.

Zamboni explained to me, "After I came back from my stay with Henry Moore, I was very much influenced by his way of sculpture. For many decades I worked with contemporary sculptures. However over the past couple of decades, I have rediscovered a connection to more classical sculptures."

The terracotta statues of Villa Spada are called "Twelve months" and show women of different ages. These terracotta sculptures are in classicial style. The twelve women standing in a row in the geometrical gardens with the background of gently rolling hills, evoke feelings of tenderness and beauty.

For example, the ninth month, September, is represented by a pregnant woman, holding her hand on her tummy, lost in day-dreams of her unborn baby. Though these sculptures were made in 1997, their style is in line with the fifteenth century building of Villa Spada.

These statues are a testimony to the continuing tradition of terracotta sculptures in Emilia region of Italy.

Some more examples of terracotta work from Bologna

Bologna is full of terracotta sculptures. A useful starting place to see some of the most beautiful sculptures from different periods is at the certosa cemetery in the south of the city.

Bologna also has frequent exhibitions and presentations of terracotta statues. Here are some examples from the central square of Piazza Maggiore in the city centre.

Conclusions

Terracotta sculptures go back to prehistoric times. The availability of clay suitable for making terracotta sculptures led to the development of a tradition of making terracotta sculptures in Emilia region of Italy especially since the arrival of Gothic style of architecture around 1200s.

This tradition saw achievement of great excellence in expressing human emotions through sculptures such as the works of master artists like Niccolò dell'Arca in fifteenth century. Six centuries later, contemporary artists like Nicola Zamboni continue that tradition of excellence in terracotta sculptures.

I love the terracotta sculptures. I hope that through this article, you will share some of my love for this art form.

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Trans-gender persons and Media

As part of "Divergenti - International Film Festival on Trans-sexual issues" held in Bologna (Italy) in May 2013, a workshop was organized on how media reports about trans-sexual issues and to provide some guidance about how issues related to trans-sexual people can be communicated.

The workshop had two main speakers from the UK based Trans Media Watch - www.transmediawatch.org - Helen Belcher (director of TMW) and Jane Fae, a British journalist.

Trans-sexual people every where are usually surrounded by misconceptions. In India, where I grew up, there is little real knowledge about trans-sexual persons known as Hijra or Khusra or Kinnar, though they have a well defined derogatory social role - to come and ask for alms during auspicious occasions (marriages, child birth, festivals). According to the popular perception, they also work as sex-workers. In the every day reality, they are ostracised and discriminated in a vicious manner, at all levels.

Gender is about being a man or woman, and behaving as a man or a woman. It is about male and female identities of persons.

Three levels of Gender Identification

Helen Belcher talked about three levels of gender identification - at the level of genitals, at the level of chromosomes and at the level of persons' brains. For each of these levels, completely male and completely female can be seen as two extremes and there is a range (spectrum) of positions in between those two extremes. Usually, the gender at all the three levels is same, but in many persons these three levels can be independent of each other:

External genitals can be completely male or female or they can have some mixed characters (inter-sexual).

In terms of chromosomes, males have XY sex chromosomes, female have XX chromosomes, while some persons can have different configuration such as XXY.

At the brain level or emotional level, persons can feel male or female, even if their genitals or chromosomes may not match these feelings. Most persons can recognise a male and female parts in themselves.

Thus a person can have outwardly completely male genitals and yet at chromosome level may not have the XY chromos or at the level of feelings, may feel to be a female. Similarly a person may have female genitals and yet feel to be a male.

Trans-sexual persons have always existed in the history, though only in the past few decades, they have been able to come out in public and ask for their human rights.

Historically, the issue of trans-sexuality was treated as a mental health issue and has been medicalized, called as "gender identity disorder". There have been debates if it has a biological origin.

To be a transgender person is not a choice

It is important to understand that being a trans-person is not a choice, people do not choose to be trans-sexual. Given the exclusion and discrimination that trans-persons have to go through, if it was just a question of choice, why do people go through it? They go through it because it something too deep in them, it is not a question of choice.

All of us go through a continuous and unrelenting conditioning from early childhood that construct our identities in terms of boyness and girlness. To question that conditioning is difficult and transition (the process of changing gender) is a process that does not ever end. Some people believe that just because you have had a surgical operation, you have changed gender and your transition is complete, that is not true. Transition is a process, where you challenge that childhood conditioning every day.

Stereotypes about transgender persons

There are many stereotypes about trans-persons. For example, that they all do comedy shows or that they are acting, they are "putting on a show", they are not who they say they are. They are seen as exotic and extravagant, non caring persons. Or that they are sex workers. They are not seen as ordinary persons.

The word trans-gender is an umbrella term. There are many other related terms such as cross-dresser, gender variant, trans-sexual, poly-gender, drag queen or drag king, transvestite, etc. Some of these words have different definitions, their boundaries are fluid and keep on changing. These identities are dynamic, their precise meanings can keep on changing at different points in the lives of persons.

Gender identity and sexual orientation

Often people confuse between the transgender issues and issues related to sexual orientation. Helen Belcher explained it very clearly when she said, "Gender is about who you feel to be, a man or a woman. Sexual orientation is about with whom do you wish to have sex."

There are transgender women (persons who were given male gender identity at birth), who wish to have sex with men while there are others who prefer other women or transgender women. There are transgender men (persons who were given female identity at birth) who like sex with other men or with women or with transgender women. Equating transgender issues with being gay or lesbian is not correct, though all these groups often face similar social barriers in terms of prejudice, discrimination, violence, abuse, etc.  

In conclusion

These are just some of the idea presented by Helen in the workshop. Persons working the media, like everyone else in the public, also have the same misconcpetions and stereotypes about trans-gender persons and by writing about these issues in a particular way, amplify those ideas and make them more universal. Thus, it is important that media-persons can have a dialogue with and understand the different issues linked to trans-gender persons.

(Updated and corrected the article on 24 July 2013)

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Short films at Trans Film Festival

Sunday 5 May, was the last day of "Divergenti 2013", the international film festival in Bologna (Italy) on transgender themes. It was also the day of short films.

I was fortunate that on each day of the festival, I was able to watch/attend at least one film or event, though I missed two films that I would have really loved to see - Noor (France & Pakistan, 2012) and Facing mirrors (Iran, 2011). This festival has been an intensive full immersion course into transgender issues for me.

Coming to the short films in the festival, there were five of them on 5 May. I love the short film format and wish that there were more of these films. Here are my impressions about the five short films shown in the festival:

Lili longed to feel her insides
(USA, 2011, 5 min., directors - Adelaide Windsome and Wren Warner)

If you wish, you can watch this film on the youtube video.
Apart from expressing the angst of Lili Elbe, the first person who was identified as transexual in USA and who went through the transition surgery, I am not so sure if I have understood all the things that this puppet-based film wanted to communicate. It shows the challenges and anguish of Lili through a puppet and a background song.

In the film, I was struck by the shot of a butterfly (or was it a crab?), pierced by a stick, fluttering and writhing, trying to get away. However, I am not so sure about the symbolism of the hole on the Lili-puppet's tummy, and pulling out of her body parts, or the stick fixed in her nose.

Perhaps, this film is not about any rational understanding, but it is more about communicating the emotional state and anguish of Lili's experience? Thus, like abstract art, it is not important to ask for meanings, but rather we should focus on the feelings evoked by the images and the song? If you watch this film, I would love to hear about your impressions about this film.

Burmese butterfly
(Myanmar, 2011, 12 min., director Hnin Ei Hlaing)

This is the first film of director Hnin Ei Hlaing from Yangon Film School. The film tells the story of Phyo Lay, born as a boy named Kew, who from her early childhood, felt that she was a girl. She lives with her grandmother in Yangon and calls her "mother". Her grandmother initially tried to control her and to make her behave like a boy, but Phyo Lay's feelings were too strong to be chained.

Duped by a man proposing a job in a bar in Thailand, Phyo finds herself stranded in a border town. She finds work in a bar in a small town of Myanmar and then finally goes to Thailand, to work in a factory. Finally back in Yangon because "I missed my mother", Phyo now works in a beauty parlour, is open about being a transexual and her grandmother has finally accepted her for who she is.

In the last scene of the film Phyo says, "Next time, I want to be born as a girl. There is just too much prejudice against us."

It is a simple straight forward film with some sepia coloured flashback scenes shot with actors to illustrate significant moments in Phyo's childhood. It provides a glimpse into the transgender and queer community of Myanmar. It also tells a universal story common to transexual persons all over the world.

Undress me
(Original title Ta Av Mig, Sweden 2013, 15 min., director Victor Lindgren)

Swedish film "Undress me" is about a MtF transexual girl called Mikaela (Jana Bringlöv Ekspong) and her encounter with a guy (Björn Elgerd) in a pub (check the trailor on Youtube).

The guy is attracted towards her and also a little puzzled. He says, "I have never met a girl who is taller than me and has a voice deeper than me".

The girl explains that she is transexual. The guy is shocked but also a little curious. He goes to her house and wants to see her body. She wants him to reciprocate, by showing his body.

The film shows the curiosity about the bodies and genitals of transgender persons and at the same time, their difficulties in being seen as persons with feelings and desires. For example, in the film, Mikaela and the guy, they never kiss.

The guy is attracted and at the same time, afraid. And there is a feeling of underlying tension in the film related to the insecurities of masculinity, as if violence can erupt suddenly. It is not because the guy is particularly rude or nasty, but I think that in general our societies are less tolerant of diversity and being rude or not behaving properly with persons who are "different" is seen as "normal".

I liked a lot this film.

Il Mio Genere - My gender
(Italy, 2012, directors Marta Cioncoloni & Cesare Bonifazi Martinozzi, 20 min.)

This film tells the story of Emanuele or Lele, born a girl and his journey to become a FtM man. He explains very eloquently about his growing up years and the slow understanding about his own desires linked to different events in his life that make him decide on the transition.

"The girl that I was so many years, sometimes she still wants to come out and express herself. I accept those moments with serenity, because she is also part of my history and part of me", he explains. Thus, his FtM transition is a shift along a spectrum that can range from points situated somewhere between the extremes of masculinity and feminility, but that continues to have elements of both.

The film also has interviews with a psychologist working in a "Transexual advisory centre" and with a surgeon who has experience in transition-related surgery. I think that for persons who know little about transexual issues and for young persons going through a crisis of identity, this can be a good educational-informational film.

It sounds a little jarring to hear the doctor refer to transexual persons as "patients", as if they are sick (though he is talking about his role as a doctor so perhaps the use of word "patient" is understandable). But then medicalization of all issues related to alternate sexualities is a common issue for different groups of persons, and not just for transexual persons.

These educational/informational parts of the film are very verbal and do not use any images or models to explain anything. However, before the screening one of the directors, Martinozzi, had explained that this is their first film, made without any kind of external funding, so it is easy to understand its limits.

You can watch the full film in the Youtube video, though it is in Italian and does not have subtitles.

La Victoria de Ursula - Ursula's Victory
Spain 2011, directors Julio Marti & Nacho Ruipérez, 16 min.

This film is a little jewel, complete with gothic atmospheres, and strange looking characters, who give an idea of hidden mysteries and conspiracies. In some ways, the film is like a Spanish version of Addams family. The film starts with a stormy night and a young girl dressed in red raincoat with a hood, carrying a suitcase, walking through a lush foliage, who breaks the chains of a cemetery and then starts digging at a grave. The secret of her actions is revealed at the end, with a well-constructed surprize.

You can watch the full film in the Youtube video - it is in Spanish with English subtitles.

The film has an eloquent message about people's fear of society and thus how persons who do not fit with the society's norms, such as transexual persons, are hidden and mutilated to keep up the appearances.

Among the short films of "Divergenti 2013", I liked this film most.

Conclusions

I think that the understanding that comes from a "story" is completely different from the understanding that comes from someone explaining something. Both kinds of understandings can be important.

However, if I have to judge a film, I would like to feel it in a cinematic language - that means, a communication through images and words, and not some kind of lecture. That is why I liked "Ursula's victory" most because of the way it uses the cinematic language and the way it is able to provide an emotional connect to the persons in its story.

Actually the English translation of the film's title "La Victoria de Ursula" takes away an important aspect of film's meaning. The film is about victory of Ursula, who manages to respect the dignity of her father. At the same time, the title of the film can be seen as change of the name "Victor" into "Victoria" on the tombstone.

Some documentaries rely almost completely on words - that is, people speaking and explaining. Probably these can work equally well as radio programmes. I personally feel that explaining everything and not letting the audience discover their own meanings, is boring and is less effective in terms of communication.

Thus, in the short films, for me the element of how much is not said/explained is really important because, then it can become like a broken tooth and your mind constantly goes back to it, trying to decipher its meanings. In that sense, I think that "Undress me" was the strongest short film in the festival, because it does not give any kind of explicit message, it does not give any clear judgement and in the end, it makes you question yourself. Four days after watching it, I still find myself occasionally thinking about it. Thus while "Ursula's victory" had an immediate strong impact, in the long run, "Undress me" is more effective.

Internet gives you the option of watching three of these films, so why don't you take a look at them and make your own opinions? I would love to hear about your opinions.

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Regarding the Trans film festival of Bologna (2013), I have already written two more reviews - "Nessuno è perfetto" (Nobody is perfect) about MtF transexual persons and "Sexing the Transman" about FtM transexual persons.

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Sexing the Transman - the path to manhood

"Sexing the Transman" is a 2011 documentary film on FemaleToMale (FtM) transexual persons by Buck Angel. I saw this film in "Divergenti 2013", the International Trans Film Festival in Bologna (Italy) organized by Movimento Identità Transessuale (MIT - Italian Transexual Identity Movement) in the first week of May.

I had never really thought about FtM transexual persons before. More than a decade ago, during a research on sexuality and disability, I had read something about difficulties of surgical construction of penis in the FtM persons compared to the relative ease of constructing a vagina in MtF transexual persons, but somehow, after finishing my research I had never really thought about it.

As general public, we are much more aware of the Male-to-Female (MtF) transexual persons, especially in terms of the stereotypes of flamboyant and exotic personalities that are often used as caricatures to elicit laughs or as villains and perverted personalities in films and mainstream media. I do not remember seeing or reading about any FtM character in any film or book in any language. There have been a few films where women dress as a man (for example, Albert Nobbs, where Glenn Close dresses as a man in the 19th century Ireland to find a job and Yentl, where Barbara Streisand dresses as a man to get Jewish religious education), but in those films, the women do not really wish to be a man, they are only forced by circumstances to cross-dress.

If someone asks you to imagine and describe a FtM transexual person, that is someone who was born as a girl and who later became a boy or a man, what kind of person will you think of? If someone had asked me this question before I had seen "Sexing the Transman", I think I would have thought of femminine looking men. Now take a look at Buck Angel, who is the scriptwriter, producer and director of "Sexing the Transman", and also an actor in some adult XXX films, and ask yourself if he fits in with your ideas of a FtM person?

However, thinking that all FtM transexual persons are like Buck Angel, would be equally wrong. Like all human beings, FtM persons also come in all shapes and sizes. A trailor of the film on Youtube can give you a glimpse into some of them.

The Film

"Sexing the Transman" takes you into the largely unknown world of FtM transexual persons in north America through some in-depth interviews. People talk about their childhoods, their understanding of how they felt different, their alienation from their bodies, their decisions to make a transition to a male persona, the effects of taking male hormone (testosterone), the surgeries to get rid of their breasts, and most of all, the liberating effects of the transition on their lives.

The film gave me the feeling of being in a locker room full of horney adolescent guys. The guys in the film constantly talk of dicks, jacking off and fucking. The only missing words in their vocabulary are related to female genitals.

Almost all the persons in the film talked about their feelings of being imprisoned in their bodies and their distaste (or refusal) towards their femminine bodies and genitals before the transition. In the pre-transition phase, some of them had been through the traditional female roles with their boyfriends, though they felt that something was missing. They describe taking testosterone as suddenly feeling alive for the first time in their lives. It is like a second adolescence, it makes them feel horney and sexually excited all the time.

Almost all the persons in the film have had some kind of surgical operation for the removal of their breasts. They say that breasts were non-sexual for them. After the operation and hormones, most of them feel an increased sensitivity of their nipples and understand the pleasure that comes from touching of those nipples. In a moving testimony, one of the guy explained the years of binding his breasts and covering himself with layers of clothes to hide them, and his joy in taking off his shirt in public after his breast removal operation - the joy of feeling naked skin.

Only one guy in the film has had surgical operation to get a penis. All the remaining persons seem happy with their slightly overgrown clitoris, treating them as penises. At the same time, those who do not go through the operation for the construction of a penis, they have their vaginas. Many of them say that after the transition, they feel more accepting towards their vaginas and some of them agree that they also like being penetrated. Compared to non-trans guys, the FtM guys in this film seem very much relaxed about their bodies, open to experimenting different flavours of pleasure.

All of them agree that transition has changed their lives completely. Some of them are in relationships, some have sex with other FtM guys like themselves, some like sex with men, some others like it with women. These discussions clarify the differences between their gender preference and their sexual orientation. In terms of gender they all feel male. In terms of sexual orientation, they are very different - some of them are heterosexual (they like women), some are gay (they like other men or FtM men) and some like to experiment with men, women and FtM guys.

There are two women in the film, who talk about their sexual relationships with the FtM guys. One of them, Margaret Choo, is much more open to experimenting the different male and female roles in the sex with lesbians and with FtM guys. The other, Selene, looks at FtM guys exclusively as "male" and does not want to deal with the female parts of their bodies.

The film has a few explicit sex scenes, showing FtM guys having sex or showing their genitals and jacking off.

Comments

Some of the initial explicit sex scenes embarrassed me, especially the scenes of the couples (Sean and Dan, Buck and Fallen). I felt that the explicit sex scenes detracted from the film. If I was watching this film at home, probably I would have switched it off at that point. Fortunately I was not at home, but in a cinema hall and so I could not switch it off. After watching the full film, looking back, I feel that without those scenes, I would not have understood half as much. Or that I would have understood what it means to be a FtM guy only in theoretical/rational terms and not in emotional terms.

The film goes straight to the point and shows you how does it feel to be a FtM guy. As men, we are so much preoccupied about the length, width and the erection of our dicks, and the duration of our "performances". FtM world liberates you from such anxieties - you can still be a guy and have enormous pleasure and fun with sex even if you don't have any dick.

FtM world has its own jargon and the film touches on some of them. For example, "transition" is the process of changing from female to male persona, "top surgery" is breast surgery, "stone" is about ignoring your vagina during the sex, "Cis" is a person who was born as a male, and "strap-ups" are artificial penises that can be strapped up. Vaginas can be "lower half" or "the hole".

I have already written about the other film, "Nessuno è perfetto" (No one is perfect), that dealt with MtF transexual persons. These two films are completely different - "Nessuno è Perfetto" is melancholic and more about challenges, difficulties, emotions, love and relationships; while "Sexing the Transman" is more joyful and it focuses on liberation, having sex and fun. The two films give a completely different glimpses of the two transexual worlds, though both may be partial glimpses!

I feel that "Sexing .." could have benefited by having some older FtM persons, who had the transition some decades ago and who could have looked back at longer periods to share their experiences and challenges.

I wish that more people will see this film to get an understanding about an area that is so little known. It would make you look at male and female roles in more open ways, and in the process, understand and enjoy your own sexuality in more fulfilling ways.

Note: More information including trailors and an adult XXX version of this film are available on the Buck Angel's Sexing the Transman website.

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I was thinking that transitioning from male to female or from female to male, can pose some specific challenges. The answers to those challenges may not be easy in the present system. Here are three examples of these challenges:

Alessandra, one of my friends in Bologna, was born a male and had married. Only after marriage, she understood her desire to be a woman and went through a surgical operation. After the operation, she asked to be recognized as a woman. However, after legal recognition, her marriage has been annulled, because Italian law does not recognize marriage between persons of same sex. Alessandra has still the same body and is the same person who had married to a woman, she still loves that woman and they still live together, but because she had an operation and she took some hormones, her marriage is no longer valid.

Another Alessandra, Mr. D'Agostino, writer of an Italian book about FtM guys called "Sesso mutante - i transgender si raccontano" (Changing sex - the transgenders tell their stories), decided to become a man five years ago. He had some surgery and took hormones. However, he does not want to get his uterus removed. On the other hand, according to the Italian law, to be recognized legally as a man he must get his uterus removed. Thus, inspite of his manly body, beard and deep voice, he still has a female name and on his documents he is a woman, that create lot of difficulties in the daily life.

In the film Trans-America, the MtF woman is with her son whom she had fathered before her transition. Yet, because she is a woman, she can't be a "father" of her son, and is obviously not his mother. The film does not pose this as a legal question, but more a question of relationship between a son and his father.

All these examples point to the way the male and female gender roles are closely linked in our societies to being father and mother in a family. Transitions confuse these clear boundaries, and create paradoxes.

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