Filmmaker Statement

Lying in Bed Alone, Breathing is a very special project to me. It's all about finding new ways to be vulnerable with myself and process my emotions as the way I experience gender dysphoria changes. It's about analyzing both how others see me and how I see myself, as well as how those worlds intermingle. From the beginning, I wanted this to be a cathartic filmmaking experience, which was difficult when tackling such personal subject matter. However, by incorporating accessibility features into the heart of my film, I was able to find a way to have a conversation between my internal and external worlds that felt comfortable to me. The captions and audio description give a voice to my appearance and to my emotions, and they also make my journey of self-reflection more accessible to the viewing or listening audience. They provided a new mode of expression and discovery, and by utilizing that, I finally found a way to sit down and talk things out with myself.