TRANS MEMORIA

TRANS MEMORIA

Country/ies
Sweden
Production
Malin Hüber,Mathilde Raczymow
Editor
Length
70
Original Language
Original language
Status
Completed
Completed in
2024
Eurodoc Participant
Eurodoc Producer
No items found.
Year participation
2019
Distribution

Victoria, Nami and Athena travel to Thailand to work on a film based on Victoria’s memory of her friend Meril and the place where she went through her gender reassignment surgery. Meril and Victoria met and became each others support during this life changing time.

Together with Nami and Athena, who are also about to go through the same surgery, Victoria seeks to narrate her experience from the time around her surgery, as well as her memories of the place itself: Mueng Chonburi. She remembers it being a barren and mysterious place far from the well-known images of the tourist brochures. The trio attempts to reconstruct Victoria’s memories as well as document their journey, but the line between the past and the present becomes blurred.

For Nami being close to the gender reassignment clinic causes anxiety about her own upcoming operation. Athena questions the meaning of life, why does she want to become a woman when she can’t find meaning in anything else in life. Is it really enough to correct one’s body to make things right?

The three of them talk about the transition. A constant process of change, a fluidity that makes it hard to know who you really are. The dreams Victoria had about the future six years ago, are not the same. After her transition her experience has collided with the illusion of what life would become. In a way, she has come to realise that life just continues in the same way as before. For Nami and Athena Victoria’s experiences causes uncertainty of their own intentions. Will they become fulfilled, or are their wishes just naive projections?

Nami, Victoria and Athena find solace in sharing a feeling of alienation. They long for closeness and love. Their time together leave them faced with the burning question of what happiness, meaning and belonging really means to them.

Festivals & Awards
2024 Karlovy Vary Film Festival (Czech Republic) - Proxima Competition
2019 Visions du Réel (Switzerland) – Pitching du Réel, Development Award
Production & financial support