[upbeat drum based song]

 INDIGO: Hello everyone and welcome to Changing the Frame. Happy New Year. My name is Indigo.

LEO:  And I am Leo. Happy New Year to all.

 INDIGO: And… we are bringing a little bit of a different episode today. Instead of having some guests, we just want to reflect on what we’ve done so far with the podcast and also discuss our goals for the year, both personal and goals for the podcast, and also give you some queer recommendations that, you know, we came across in this past year. Yeah. So Leo, what, what are your goals for this?

LEO:  So this year I am trying to get back into journaling. I used to journal a lot in my second year of uni and it helped a lot,, with feelings of dysphoria and transition related thoughts that I had. And it’s very interesting to go back and read my old journals now and realize that, wow, I’ve been feeling like this for a really long time. It also helps me a lot with creative projects, so like just pouring ideas into the pages and trying to build them up. So I think I’m gonna pick that back up. It’s already like, halfway through the first month and I’ve not done it yet, but we’re, we’re gonna get there I think. I think I’m setting gentle goals for myself this year where I’m trying not to be like too pressured into doing them, but yeah, that’s one of mine.

 INDIGO: Like you said, it’s, it’s a gentle start to the year.

LEO:  Yes. Very gentle. Start to the year. I hope everyone’s having a very gentle start to a year because time’s not real, even though it’s a new year. Time’s not real, but yeah, that’s one of mine. How about you?

 INDIGO: This year I want to pick up filmmaking a bit more.  So just personally, I’m just gonna do some projects every month. So that’s my goal. Just do a film every month. It doesn’t have to be a huge film, just a little video filming anything. And I’m not gonna put too much pressure, but it’s literally just to practice and yeah, just be creative this year and hopefully I’ll be a better filmmaker by the end of it.

LEO:  I think that’s very good because sometimes, oftentimes actually there’s a lot of pressure as creative and artist people to anything that you put out there for it to be good, but sometimes you just have to do stuff and let it be what it needs to be, you know? So… 

 INDIGO: Exactly. 

LEO: That’s a very good goal. I’m, I’m excited to see what you make.

 INDIGO: And if something turns out good, I will share it with people.

LEO:  Exactly. Exactly. It’s, it’s definitely about bettering your skills and I’m so excited for that, for you at the moment.

 INDIGO: Yeah, that’s a good word, skills. Like I just wanna learn new skills this year. I feel like people have big goals sometimes of like, I wanna make a feature film.

LEO:  Yes.

 INDIGO: But I feel like before you do that, you need to improve your skills and develop new skills around storytelling, production, writing, whatever. Like there’s so many skills that go behind this, so, yeah. 

LEO:  Ah, I think that’s such a good way of breaking it down, actually, it’s a very good way to approach it. It’s gonna be a good year. It’s gonna be a good year. I think I get a good, I, I got a good feeling for it. And speaking about good feelings, I think I’m gonna try and do yoga  again this year. I’m, I’m, I have a very sore back that comes from just years of bad posture and dysphoria and et cetera. Also have a scoliosis and I used to swim a lot, but. Yeah. It’s hard to swim in public spaces as a trans person. So I think I’m gonna do some yoga and light stretching in the safety of my house. But that’s another one of my goals. That’s another goal.

 INDIGO: That’s a really good goal.

LEO: Yeah, I think so. Right? Gotta stay healthy, body, mind, healthy as much as possible.

 INDIGO: Especially as a filmmaker, you carry so much weight that you need to like…

LEO: but you really do, though. You really do. It’s, it’s… 

 INDIGO: Yeah, exactly.

LEO: It’s a, it’s a struggle. It’s a struggle carrying tripods and cameras and lightning equipment and, oh, so much to carry.

 INDIGO: Yeah. I feel like it’s good to be gentle this year. I think the past few years have been so stressful.

LEO: Yes. Yeah.

 INDIGO: It’d be good to, yeah.

LEO: Well, you know, Changing The Frame promotes a gentle approach to lifestyle, lifestyle decisions. So there you go. Is there anything else for you? 

 INDIGO: I mean, I’ve created a huge list of goals, but I feel like I’m gonna try to be gentle with myself.

LEO: Yes, yes.

 INDIGO: And have that as a main goal, and then literally just continue all the work that I’m doing in terms of like curation and programming.

LEO: Nice. Nice.

 INDIGO: Which is already a lot of work. So I think just implementing one. Skill with.

LEO: That sounds like a good plan. I, I really feel like the big word of the podcast today is gonna be the word gentle

 INDIGO: That’s right.

LEO:  Which is a great word. I’m happy with that.

 INDIGO: And yeah, and also I’m gonna try to read more.

LEO: Ooh, yes. Yes. We were discussing cause obviously we’re prepping the media recommendations for this episode. And we were just talking about books and I saw that, I read 35 books last year, which is.

 INDIGO: It’s great.

LEO: It’s good, it’s good, it’s good. I’ve read so many little queer novelas and sci-fi and fantasy, which is just good escapism. I love me some good queer stories that happen in space. I just love that and yeah, I’m gonna try and read 40 this year. We’ll see what happens though.

 INDIGO: That’s a good goal. I’m gonna try to read two… kidding. Last year I didn’t read much because honestly I don’t have time and also I’m dyslexic and it just takes me a lot of time to read a book. so I only read a couple last year, so hopefully this year I’ll read four. I’ve already bought four, so I have them on, on my shelf. And that’s what I’m gonna focus on so, yeah.

LEO: No, but that’s, that’s a good goal. To each person…. there’s different, different ways of working…

 INDIGO: Exactly. I watched a shit ton of films like all the time, and I feel like just for like work stuff and…. I feel like that’s what takes the most of my time. So, but I’m gonna try to separate like half an hour every evening to read and dedicate that time to just focus on being present and reading.

LEO: That’s, that’s a very good goal, I think. And I dunno, I feel like I kind of envy the amount of films that you watch. I feel like I definitely watch very little films, so like, I feel like it’s the other way around with films for me. so maybe I will try and push myself to watch more films as well this year. It’s silly. We’re, we’re a podcast about films and I’m over here just reading. Just reading and reading.

 INDIGO: No, but you watch loads of films as well.

LEO: Uh, occasionally, but yeah.

 INDIGO: We watch it together. 

LEO: Yes. We’ll watch, we’ll watch them together and we can make time to sit and read together as well, if that helps.

 INDIGO: Exactly. With a nice cup of tea in a gentle evening. 

LEO: Gentle? You said gentle again!

 INDIGO: Very gentle evening. 

LEO: Oh, I’m excited though. Sounds like good, good plans for the year and good, good stuff.  Yeah, we’re just diving right into media recommendations now, and we’re gonna start with books, I guess…  talk about reading and everything. I wanted to talk really quickly about Crip Kinship by Shayda Kafai. I hope I’m pronouncing the name correctly. The subtitle for it is the Disability Justice and Art Activism of Sins Invalid. this is a little book that I picked up in our local queer bookstore, Category Is. And it’s basically nonfiction and it explores the art activism of Sins Invalid, which is a San Francisco Bay area based performance project. And it just talks a lot about the project and its radical imaginings of what disabled, queer, transgender, nonconforming bodyminds of color can do. it talks a lot about accessibility in events and about community building, about the importance of finding each other and seeing each other and recognizing ourselves in each other. And I think it’s a very good book to build from, for cultural events for personal projection of what you need and what you must seek out in the world and from people. So yeah, I’m halfway through, so I’ve not finished it yet, but it’s very good and I think more people should know about it.

 INDIGO: That sounds incredible. I feel like any books about queerness and accessibility, it’s a must for everyone to read.

LEO: Yeah. It’s important. It’s important. We need to make space for as many intersections as we can. I think it’s, I think it’s very important.

 INDIGO: For sure. in terms of my book for the year. Finally finished Detransition, Baby.

LEO: Round of applause.

 INDIGO: I feel like loads of people mentioned the transition baby during our conversations and during the podcast. So I got the book and I finally read it and it’s a really, really, really good read. I feel like the way that they talk about queerness and different structures of families. That was really good. And that’s kinda what I took a lot from the film, from the book. Oh my God. I’m just thinking of films. yeah, I love the book. It was a nice read. and I highly recommend it for anyone. I think I’m not gonna talk much about it cause every single episode we’ve had someone talking about this book. So. Yeah. And moving on. In terms of music, an album that I would really recommend is called Fim das Tentativas by Rico Dalasam who’s a Black gay artist from Brazil. And in this album he talks a lot about love and queerness. So highly recommend it, and he has good vibes all around. How about you?.

LEO: Gonna have to listen. I picked <COPINGMECHANISM> by Willow. I was back home in the Basque Country for a while, for Christmas now, and  I was just playing that album a lot while driving. It’s pop punk kinda good rock vibes, just very fun, good lyrics. I like Willow a lot. I’ve liked her since very young. I actually, I think I heard Whip My Hair when it came out actually, which was a long, long time ago. And yeah, just, just really like, just really like the direction her career’s taking at the moment. I think it’s very fun. Very like feisty and angry a little bit, but in a very good way. So yeah, COPINGMECHANISM. Also the cover art for it is stunning, it’s very good. 

 INDIGO: Yeah, Willow is incredible.

LEO: she’s so good

 INDIGO: and I really like her career as well. The way that’s shaping at the moment. Yeah, it’s really good.

LEO: It’s interesting cause you and I have spoken about Jaden as well and how they have like such different aesthetics at the moment. It’s just very fun. I like that a lot.

 INDIGO: I love Jaden.

LEO:  Yeah. He has really good music, really good vibey music. Yeah. In the next category we’re talking about films and I’m gonna talk about one that’s not really come out yet, but the director is a Adrián Silvestre, he’s from Spain, and he made Sedimentos, which we actually saw in the CCA Glasgow together. And Indigo, you were part of the panel that happened afterwards, which was really fun to see you in. But yeah, he’s releasing Mi Vacío Y Yo which means my emptiness and I, and it’s about a trans French woman in Spain who starts to transition and is trying to find herself through dating and through romance. So yeah, I’m just, I’m just very excited to see what happens in it and what kind of response it gets. Cause I really liked Sedimentos, which was more documentary based style, it was much more just observational documentary and this is supposed to be a reenactment of real life story, but with like a touch of fiction. So yeah, it’ll be interesting. I’m excited.

 INDIGO: Yeah, I really want to watch it as well.  I love Sedimentos and the trailer for My Emptiness And I Looks incredible.

LEO:  It does, it does. 

 INDIGO: I feel like there’s loads of trans films, and TV  shows coming out in Spain right now. Well, not loads, but at least a few. 

LEO:  A few, yeah. A few, which is good. 

 INDIGO: I really like love, Veneno.

LEO: Mm, Veneno is so good.

 INDIGO: Such a good TV show. 

LEO: Such a good show.

 INDIGO: Yeah. Love that. In terms of my recommendations, I have a film and a TV show, so I finally got to watch Euphoria. I feel like everyone was talking about it for the past few years and I never had the chance to watch it.  And it was just a great watch and. Hunter Schaffer is just an incredible actress and I really liked the episode that was in between seasons about her, like talking to her therapist and talking about her experience of gender. It was very, very good. Yeah, so Euphoria is a must for everyone to watch. I know it can be quite cheesy and like very American in most parts, but it’s, it’s a fun watch.

LEO:  Yeah, it’s, it’s a silly little watch. You’re just watching… 

 INDIGO: The makeup? Oof… 

LEO:  …for the vibes, the makeup and the music and the filming styles. Very good. I think it’s, it’s a good show.

 INDIGO: And the film that I picked is a short film called Fabulous. It’s a documentary about Lasseindra Ninja and she’s a, she’s from French Ghana and she is an upcoming legend in the ballroom scene. She’s done, she’s participated in balls in New York, in France, in Brazil, like in many places. So in this documentary, she goes, she comes back to her home country in French Ghana to show queer people there a little bit of ball history and teach them how to vogue and teach them about ball history. So it’s a really nice film. and it’s so funny in some point as well, the way that she talks to other, to, to, to her kids. but yeah, it’s, it is just a beautiful film and. Yeah, highly recommend that. I don’t know where you can find it online cause I’ve only seen it as part of a program for a festival. So I don’t know where you can find online, but it’s a beautiful film if you can. It came out a few years ago and yeah, loved it.

LEO:  Very good. 

 INDIGO: And then following films, now we can talk a little bit about podcasts that we have listened to this in this past year that we’ve enjoyed, and my recommendation is called Degenerados, and that is a podcast from Brazil. it’s made by two transmasc people in Brazil and they get like little segments of voice notes from their audience that talks about specific topic, and then they discuss the topic within like an hour and a bit. and it’s all about like transness and queerness. It’s, it’s very, very nice. and they’re coming out with the third season this year and I’m really excited about it. So yeah, definitely follow.  How about you? 

LEO:  That sounds so good that. I, I have this podcast that I’ve been getting into, it’s called Ologies with Ali Word, and it’s essentially a sciencey podcast, but produced in a very fun way, very educational, very down to earth. Not any big words that people can’t understand. but yeah, essentially Ali Word will pick a theme or a topic. So say bears or sleeping. And then she will contact people in the field that understand the most about these topics and she interviews them in a very like, relaxed manner. And it’s just very good. I’ve been doing my dishes and house chores, cleaning, you name it, while listening to it. And it’s very good, very enriching, very entertaining, but also very, like I’ve learned a lot, I’ve learned a lot. It’s, it’s a very good vibe. It’s a very good, good podcast, I think. Yeah, it’s good. I clearly, I clearly think it’s good. 

 INDIGO: Is it okay? Is it, is it good?

LEO: It is, it is good. It’s good.

 INDIGO: Is it good?

LEO: Yeah.

 INDIGO: There was a podcast that I heard about during a film festival that I went to in December and trying to find the name. Okay. I found it. So basically I went to the Solstice Witch Hag Film Festival in Glasgow in December, run by the Rebel Dykes Film Club and they had a panel discussion around witches, and I know it’s not very queer, but cause they, they don’t really talk about queerness in this podcast. But the podcast is called Witches of Scotland and they go around and research like different witches that have been killed in Scotland in the past. And they kind of discuss about like femininity and how like 90% of the witches that were killed were women. And they talk about like mental health and how that was something that affected people to think people were witches. I don’t know. It’s just, it just sounds like an interesting podcast that I need to listen to it, but it’s on my list and I don’t know if anyone listening to this is interested in witches, but the Solstice Witch Hag Film Festival was very queer and it was incredible. Yeah.

LEO: That sounds like a fascinating podcast to be fair. We obviously had our fair share of witch hunting in Spain, and I’ve always found the topic very interesting. So I’ll, I’ll have a listen myself. Now that we’re talking so much about podcast related… you know, listenings and everything. I think it’s a good moment to discuss what our plans are for the year in relation to Changing The Frame, what we want to accomplish, and what we hopefully will be doing. So yeah.

 INDIGO: I think one of our goals for the year is to have one episode every month and have another 11 people in the podcast, or like 11 episodes with guests in, and that could be like one or more guests in one episode. And also create some extra little episodes talking about queer recommendations that we have.

LEO: Yeah, I guess I, I think it, it creates really good balance to touch base with our listeners from time to time in a little short episode like this one. I think, when we recorded the first ever pilot episode, it was very fun cause we were launching ourselves into something new and we had pre-recorded a good bunch of episodes already, but it was like, this is gonna be the first one and this is us creating something new and exciting. So I think it’s good to keep on touching base sometimes and recording a little one. But yeah, hopefully many, many collaborations in the horizon, one episode a month, as we’ve been doing up until now, and perhaps just building our following, getting more people to listen to all the important stories that trans and nonbinary filmmakers are telling in the industry. And yeah, just keep on growing. Keep on growing gently, very gently.

 INDIGO: Gently! And also growing skills, like I said in the beginning. I feel like me and you like, we’ll definitely make mistakes with this podcast. And it’s definitely a learning curve for the both of us in many ways.

LEO: Oh, absolutely. Yeah.

 INDIGO: And I feel like this is a great way for us to develop skills around interviewing and also research and talking to people about films. So, I’m excited for this year because of that. Like I’m gonna learn new skills. Also we’ll get to know new people. And I’m excited to talk to new people like filmmakers and stuff, and I’ll just, yeah, I’m just really excited and I can’t wait for this podcast to grow and for more people to know about it. So, yeah.

LEO: Absolutely. I, it’s actually coming up to the one year anniversary of when you asked me to join you in this big enterprise and god, if we’ve grown since then, I feel like I’ve learned a lot already, and just like yourself, I’m just very excited to keep learning and getting better and building more skills relating to podcast making and interviewing people and just finding out more about what everybody else is doing in the film industry. Everybody else from our community, I just wanna meet them all and chat to them all and put it all out in the world. Cause it’s just so good and important to have these conversations and I’m, yeah, I’m just very glad we get to do it together. It’s been so fun so far and I’m so excited for more.

 INDIGO: Yeah. I’m learning loads from you as well. And because the podcast is not just like recording and releasing something. There’s also like website, social media, and like all this other stuff. And accessibility and… plug, we are, we also have all the transcriptions of every single episode in our website. So if you want, go check that out. but yeah, like there’s other stuff that goes behind it and I’m learning loads from you on stuff that I never knew how to do. So thank you so much.

LEO: I feel likewise from you. Can I get so soapy and teary here? But yeah, it’s, it’s just so good to be paired up together. I think we’re a very good team and I’m yeah, just so looking forward to see what we do next.

 INDIGO: Thank you so much for listening to this episode and I can’t wait to see you all back next month where we have a very special guest that you will know closer to the time

LEO: Gotta love a little bit of suspense to end the episode on. 

 INDIGO: Yeah!

LEO: Goodbye!

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