[Music]
[Applause]
as a baby
we’re merely curious about this
brand-new world that we just entered I
literally just want to try everything
right but the one thing that I want to
do the most is learn to walk and after
we’ve taken our first few steps we want
to explore that curiosity in depth so
then we start to discover the more the
yeses and the knows the rights and the
wrongs and like myself I knew the word
know or – well I’m sorry Stef you can’t
play that character because you’re not a
boy said mr. insert used his name here I
was studying drama back in college my
last year got handed the script I had
four main characters two guys two girls
and confidently went somewhere QL said I
want to play this character which is a
guy I said I can commit to this
character but she said no you can’t and
because I wasn’t willing to paying if
any of the other characters
I decided play chicken chicken had two
lines I was okay with that but from that
from that line that Matua said to me
changed my whole entire life from then
forward and then began to explore my
identity a little bit more because I
wanted to uncover and unpack these
feelings that I had as an individual and
understand the world world a little bit
more different from my perspective so
then I wanted to create him a project go
through my eyes which is what I use the
on screen now
through my eyes was his story it was her
story and it was my story which made it
our story the guy in the black was the
story that I related to the most
his name was Mikkel once known as me the
lady in the orange with his mom the lady
with the braids was his twin sister and
I at the back well he was his older
brother
now Mikkel was struggling to find his
identity but when he found his identity
he want to do it he wants it to just
only he wanted to live in his truth but
the one thing that he was we wanted the
most was acceptance now he gained
acceptance from his mom and his sister
but the biggest struggle was his brother
this is a story that predicted my gender
transition in 2013 this was me as a
little baby in 1993 2014 I decided to
embody what I call a social transition
because I wanted to unpack these
stereotypical labels that had stigma
surround them and I started with the L
the G and the B and the T LGBT community
and I realized that I fit into the t but
the T stood out from the L G and the B
so again I felt isolated I felt alone so
I went through a depression of state
during those times 2014 2015 I had very
small support system around me but I had
myself and because I went downhill I
understood that I needed to make this
transition in order to make myself feel
accepted
and through my eyes was a part of that
journey because it helped me share my
vulnerability my vulnerability as a
human being I was naked at the eye I was
scared of what other people would say I
was scared the judgments that were
thrown a suffering with anxiety it
suffered with depression just like most
of us in this all the audience but I
knew I had to pick myself up in order to
be able to navigate through my next
chapter of my life I needed to make this
transition and yes it was a generous
transition but if whenever did this one
gender transition transition I’m gonna
be able to socially transition I
wouldn’t be able to sit in a car full of
people and feel okay to be myself I
wouldn’t be able to leave my house I
wouldn’t be able to essentially be me
and in 2016 I looked in the mirror I
said I know this guy this is the guy
that was hiding inside of me this whole
time and the fact that I predicted my
gender transition through my craft my
craft conceived the whole of my life
it’s why I used to love it it’s what I
love doing filmmaking directing being
able to tell those stories that people
are afraid to speak about being able to
just unpack and unpack and understand
all these stereotypical labels that you
know we indulge in everything that
identifies us I need to understand who I
was and who I was going to become and
from discovering my identity I then
understood that my identity isn’t a
hundred percent of me it’s not all of me
there’s so much more to me than my
identity so once that was dealt with I
was now able to move forward
able to navigate through my career
socially in the way I feel comfortable
so I had to make myself feel
uncomfortable and vulnerable in order to
be able to
stand here today and disclose this
information to you suit me forward I
told myself every single year I want to
leave a legacy and from the moment of
through my eyes every single year apart
from 2014 because I was working and
killing in my new one in 2014 got
released in 2015 I made a film and this
is all I wanted to do but like I said I
couldn’t do it because I never had the
confidence to because I never felt I
would be perceived the way I see myself
so from 2013 up until 15 16 and 17
I have believed in legacies behind
because I want to be known as Stefan’s
acquire the filmmaker not Stefan’s
acquire the trans man I’m a man of the
trans experience but that does not
dictate my whole identity so I want you
guys to repeat after me you have to know
who you are and know where you’re coming
from in order to know where you’re going
one more time with conviction you have
to know where you who you are
and where you coming from you know
there’s no way you’re going peace
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
as a baby
we’re merely curious about this
brand-new world that we just entered I
literally just want to try everything
right but the one thing that I want to
do the most is learn to walk and after
we’ve taken our first few steps we want
to explore that curiosity in depth so
then we start to discover the more the
yeses and the knows the rights and the
wrongs and like myself I knew the word
know or – well I’m sorry Stef you can’t
play that character because you’re not a
boy said mr. insert used his name here I
was studying drama back in college my
last year got handed the script I had
four main characters two guys two girls
and confidently went somewhere QL said I
want to play this character which is a
guy I said I can commit to this
character but she said no you can’t and
because I wasn’t willing to paying if
any of the other characters
I decided play chicken chicken had two
lines I was okay with that but from that
from that line that Matua said to me
changed my whole entire life from then
forward and then began to explore my
identity a little bit more because I
wanted to uncover and unpack these
feelings that I had as an individual and
understand the world world a little bit
more different from my perspective so
then I wanted to create him a project go
through my eyes which is what I use the
on screen now
through my eyes was his story it was her
story and it was my story which made it
our story the guy in the black was the
story that I related to the most
his name was Mikkel once known as me the
lady in the orange with his mom the lady
with the braids was his twin sister and
I at the back well he was his older
brother
now Mikkel was struggling to find his
identity but when he found his identity
he want to do it he wants it to just
only he wanted to live in his truth but
the one thing that he was we wanted the
most was acceptance now he gained
acceptance from his mom and his sister
but the biggest struggle was his brother
this is a story that predicted my gender
transition in 2013 this was me as a
little baby in 1993 2014 I decided to
embody what I call a social transition
because I wanted to unpack these
stereotypical labels that had stigma
surround them and I started with the L
the G and the B and the T LGBT community
and I realized that I fit into the t but
the T stood out from the L G and the B
so again I felt isolated I felt alone so
I went through a depression of state
during those times 2014 2015 I had very
small support system around me but I had
myself and because I went downhill I
understood that I needed to make this
transition in order to make myself feel
accepted
and through my eyes was a part of that
journey because it helped me share my
vulnerability my vulnerability as a
human being I was naked at the eye I was
scared of what other people would say I
was scared the judgments that were
thrown a suffering with anxiety it
suffered with depression just like most
of us in this all the audience but I
knew I had to pick myself up in order to
be able to navigate through my next
chapter of my life I needed to make this
transition and yes it was a generous
transition but if whenever did this one
gender transition transition I’m gonna
be able to socially transition I
wouldn’t be able to sit in a car full of
people and feel okay to be myself I
wouldn’t be able to leave my house I
wouldn’t be able to essentially be me
and in 2016 I looked in the mirror I
said I know this guy this is the guy
that was hiding inside of me this whole
time and the fact that I predicted my
gender transition through my craft my
craft conceived the whole of my life
it’s why I used to love it it’s what I
love doing filmmaking directing being
able to tell those stories that people
are afraid to speak about being able to
just unpack and unpack and understand
all these stereotypical labels that you
know we indulge in everything that
identifies us I need to understand who I
was and who I was going to become and
from discovering my identity I then
understood that my identity isn’t a
hundred percent of me it’s not all of me
there’s so much more to me than my
identity so once that was dealt with I
was now able to move forward
able to navigate through my career
socially in the way I feel comfortable
so I had to make myself feel
uncomfortable and vulnerable in order to
be able to
stand here today and disclose this
information to you suit me forward I
told myself every single year I want to
leave a legacy and from the moment of
through my eyes every single year apart
from 2014 because I was working and
killing in my new one in 2014 got
released in 2015 I made a film and this
is all I wanted to do but like I said I
couldn’t do it because I never had the
confidence to because I never felt I
would be perceived the way I see myself
so from 2013 up until 15 16 and 17
I have believed in legacies behind
because I want to be known as Stefan’s
acquire the filmmaker not Stefan’s
acquire the trans man I’m a man of the
trans experience but that does not
dictate my whole identity so I want you
guys to repeat after me you have to know
who you are and know where you’re coming
from in order to know where you’re going
one more time with conviction you have
to know where you who you are
and where you coming from you know
there’s no way you’re going peace
[Applause]
[Music]
Please follow and like us: