According to GLAAD’s 2015 Studio Responsibility Index, which looks at the LGBT diversity of films released in the previous year, just 20 of the 114 releases from major studios GLAAD surveyed included any LGBT characters. 65% of the inclusive films starred gay male characters and none of those inclusive titles featured transgender characters.
Things have gotten a little better with 2015’s movie releases though snf one film garnering a lot of critical acclaim is Tangerine.
Tangerine has made headlines not just because the entire movie was shot almost entirely on an iPhone but also because it’s a film about two trans sex workers (played by two trans women of colour) as they set off to go and locate their pimp on Christmas Eve.
Tangerine has already scooped up several accolades, including the Audience Award and the Breakthrough Actor (Mya Taylor, one of the films leads) at the Gotham Independent Film Awards.
But now the film is going one further as Magnolia Pictures, the distributor that picked up the film earlier this year, has now launched a campaign to get Taylor and Kitana Kiki Rodriguez (Tangerine’s other star) nominated for Academy Awards.
Magnolia hopes to get Taylor and Rodriguez nominated in the Lead Actress and Supporting Actress categories and while it’s unclear exactly how successful the campaign is going so far, it does have some high profile supporters.
Recently, during a screening of the film to Oscar voters, Orange is the New Black’s Laverne Cox showed up to say that
I often imagine what it would be like for trans people all over this country and world if a trans woman is nominated for an Academy Award. You have a chance to make that happen.”
Meanwhile, Mark Duplass (of the Duplass Brothers, who are producing the film) recently said that “the TV Academy has embraced what’s happening in the trans movement with Transparent and Orange is the New Black. The film Academy is a little behind on that front.”
Nominations for the Academy Awards will be officially revealed on January 14, 2016.
