In Some Women, Quen Wong — called Singapore’s first trans woman feature documentary maker — invites us into her life and narrates her journey from boy to woman. She interviews other trans women in conservative Singapore and delves into her own family’s reactions to her transition. It’s an engaging and congenial film, not least due to Wong’s erudite voiceover narration. Some Women has its west Canada premiere this week at the Vancouver International Women in Film Festival (VIWFF), which runs Tuesday through Saturday.
Some storytellers follow the motto, “Show, don’t tell.” Wong does both with Some Women. She shows us her family life and tells us in voiceover about the various steps that got her to where she is today. She peppers her speech with declarations of self-love like “I am worthy of love,” “This is who I am,” and “My identity is determined by the act of living.” She is very open about her feelings as a child that she was in the wrong body, her first loves, the complicated conversations with potential lovers – including her current partner – about her body, and the process of reassignment surgery and hormone therapy.
Read the full review at AWFJ.org.
Images courtesy of the Vancouver International Film Festival.