Phallocy

Reprinted from F.T.M. Newsletter #49 Summer/Fall 2001.

(The Gender Centre advise that this article may not be current and as such certain content, including but not limited to persons, contact details and dates may not apply. Where legal authority or medical related matters are cited, responsibility lies with the reader to obtain the most current relevant legal authority and/or medical publication.)

Jay Sennett has been in the trans community since 1994 and his recent video, "Phallocy", has been playing around the United States.

According to Sennett: "my private motto for my production company is 'movies for the rest of us'. I am passionate about including trans and intersexed people, fat people, people of colour, people with disabilities, queers - my people - on the screen. My vision for the screen is the world in which I live.

"Phallocy" is an autobiographical film using spoken word, music and experimental techniques to explore the struggles of a female to male transsexual. The double-exposed, sepia-toned footage and sharp editing create the mood for the film-maker's confrontation with living with a female bodied man. "Phallocy" asks, but does not answer the question, "How does a 32 year old lesbian become a man?"

quot;Whether we want to admit or not FtM's struggle with the fact that we live in female bodies, with-out factory-direct penises.

"Phallocy" is my attempt to come to terms with this reality, for myself", says Sennett.

"Phallocy" has screened at Women in the Director's Chair Film and Video Festival, The N.W. Gender Queer Film and Video Festival, and was a finalist in the Pink Apple Short Film competition, Fraunfeld, Switzerland. Other scheduled screenings include Inside Out Lesbian and gay Film and Video Festival, Outfest 2001: The 19th Los Angeles Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, San Francisco International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival 25th Anniversary and Bologna Festival Internazionale di Cinema Gay-Lesbico. Sennett is also the 2001 recipient of the prestigious Cultural Award, given by the Detroit Gay and Lesbian Pride and Community Service Awards Committee.

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