{"id":2993,"date":"2024-04-01T14:26:53","date_gmt":"2024-04-01T14:26:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/taratw.com\/?p=2993"},"modified":"2024-04-11T21:32:49","modified_gmt":"2024-04-11T21:32:49","slug":"filming-transition-jordan-bryon-opens-up-about-changing-genders-while-embedding-with-the-taliban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/taratw.com\/filming-transition-jordan-bryon-opens-up-about-changing-genders-while-embedding-with-the-taliban\/","title":{"rendered":"Filming Transition: Jordan Bryon opens up about changing genders while embedding with the Taliban"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This is the first exceprt of a two-part interview with Jordan Bryon and Monica Villamizar, the co-directors of the newly released film Transition<\/a>. Bryon, an Australian filmmaker who had lived in Afghanistan for several years, documented the process of becoming a man while embedding with a group of Taliban insurgents. We begin this series with a discussion about how Bryon and Villamizar made the film; and conclude in part two by unpacking the ethical storytelling considerations the duo grappled with as westerners tackling a subject that many Afghan Talibs consider punishable by death. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Transition is an inherently unique example of storytelling based on the clash of values it sets up between Australian filmmaker Jordan Bryon<\/a> and the Taliban fighters he’s tasked to cover for The New York Times. Western values, especially in the LGBTQAI+ community, assert that Bryon is under no obligation to divulge his intentions to further identify as a man by undergoing gender-affirming surgery. It’s also evident that the Taliban would have a different take on the matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Courtesy AGC Studios\/AGC Unwritten<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Bryon introduces his quandary at the outset of the film by lamenting to the camera that “there are too many threads that are becoming very messy.” He’s clearly referring to the struggle to keep his sex assigned at birth hidden from the people who might kill him over it. However, this line could easily apply to the multiple kinds of footage that makes Transition<\/em> quite the feat in documentary filmmaking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Initially a two person crew, Bryon not only takes footage of himself in a vein resembling a reality television show confessional, but also hands the camera over — quite literally at times — to his Afghan fixer and fellow cinematographer Farzad Fetrat. Those recordings are in stark contrast to the more professional video that was meant for Bryon’s feature for The New York Times. And as the idea solidified to make a documentary about his gender reassignment under the unsuspecting eye of the Taliban, co-director Monica Villamizar<\/a> stepped in with a multi-camera film crew.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Monica Villamizar (left) with Bryon Jordan at the Tribeca Film Festival \/ Courtesy AGC Studios\/AGC Unwritten<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Bryon’s position as a filmmaker versus Villamizar, who’s a journalist, further enriches — or possibly complicates — the movie’s filmmaking style. Bryon sums up the difference in their storytelling perspectives by quipping that filmmakers have more fun because they’re not beholden to facts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It would also seem filmmakers are more tempted to play up for the camera, especially when the object of the documentary is also the director. It’s a notion that Bryon doesn’t shy away from talking about, and he explains it’s why some of his earlier testimonials were left on the cutting room floor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet as a filmmaker, Bryon also holds an inherent advantage over many journalists who parachuted into Afghanistan during the fall of Kabul’s western-backed government. Prior to that moment, Bryon had been living in Afghanistan for years and learned to speak fluent Dari. As the Taliban retook control, and many foreign journalists evacuated through the capital’s besieged airport, Bryon remained. This mix of circumstances combined with the Taliban’s mission to put on a PR campaign for the rest of the world gave Bryon a level of access that’s rarely enjoyed by any journalist in Afghanistan. Ironically enough, those inroads into the insurgent group’s confidence helped Bryon produce a film that will likely cause his exile from the country for years to come, if not forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n