I made this short film originally for my 'archive film' assignment at uni. I went through the footage that I recorded over the 2021-2023 London Trans Prides. The annual events are still in early stages of existence, the first one was held only in 2019. The Trans Pride organisers make it clear that purpose of the gathering is not only to celebrate the diversity, but also to protest against the discrimination and lack of recognition that the queer and trans community faces daily on interpersonal and institutional basis. The Trans Pride was also set up to highlight the lack of representation and inclusion of people who find themselves restricted by the binaries of gender, to point out the commodification, corporatisation and rainbow capitalism ideology present in the official London Pride parade, as well as deconstruct the negative stigma connected to non-cis bodies also within the LGBTQA+ community itself.

In the film I decided to mix the various clips without following a chronological timeline, as the issues protested over the past few years are still ongoing, and as important as they were in the beginning. Having participated in the protest over the past three years, each time I felt like I was being suspended in time, each time I attended the event. As a queer and gender non-binary person, I was surrounded by people who seemed to be just like me, and who welcomed me with open arms, which reminded me of the concept of a heterotopia - the Trans Pride parade created an environment of total inclusion, that is, an environment defined as the opposition to what the ‘outside world’ is.

To give more context to the film, I decided to ask my trans friends about their thoughts and experiences from the times they attended London Trans Pride. The final film is a combination of images and voices from the contemporary queer community.

Filmed, directed and edited by Artur Siudem (they/them), IG: @janusz_santana

Big thanks to Santiago Franco Schicke, Martina, Fillo Deportaberta and Siren for participation in the project. Also huge thanks to Valentino Vecchietti for the inspiring speech at Soho Square.