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In Full Bloom: Transcending Gender NOW On DVD & VOD

"A rollercoaster of emotions. I could not stop watching it!" - Julie Dash, Filmmaker, Daughters of the Dust & The Rosa Parks Story

"In Full Bloom spotlights the transgender community...going behind the scenes to pull back the curtain on the trans experience."- Tre'vell Anderson, Los Angeles Times

"A masterful narrative that encompasses a complete and diverse rollercoaster of trans life."- Zachary Drucker, Producer/Actress, Transparent

In Full Bloom: Transcending Gender follows the courageous journey of thirteen transgender and two gay actors as they transform their lives through the use of monologue, dialogue and performance art while preparing for the world premiere of the original stage play, Lovely Bouquet of Flowers: An Exploration of Non-Traditional Gender Voices, written by Jazzmun Nichcala Crayton and David Hays Gaddas.

Behind-the-scenes, rehearsal and performance footage are interwoven with candid personal interviews with the cast, who talk about how they deal with family, inner conflicts, discrimination, coming out, surgery, hormones and the complexities of sexual identity and orientation. By sharing their own journeys, the actors transcend gender and challenge us to move past stereotypes and see what we all have in common as human beings.

Director's Statement

As a photojournalist at heart, I'm always on the lookout for a good story - especially those which have a cross cultural element while dealing with the human condition to which I can add compelling visuals. I've worked as a freelance cameraman for ABC-TV's World News, Good Morning America and 20/20 for many years, while also pursuing and producing my own projects. I sometimes work as a "gun for hire," filming other people's works as well. A little backstory: I answered an online ad looking for someone to film a one-woman stage performance for Lana Houston. In our telephone conversation, Lana told be about her life as a male centerfold model for Playgirl magazine and her performances as the featured dancer in Janet Jackson's top music videos. We met at a local Starbucks in Hollywood to talk about her project. It was clear that her one-woman show was more of a notion at this time and something possibly to be done in the future. However, Lana also mentioned that she was presently a cast member in a larger stage production featuring twelve other transgender performers focusing on stories as told by LA's transgender community. Visually, the "OH WOW" factor hit me and I told Lana that I was more interested in the larger production as possible documentary. I had never seen a large group of transgender people together but I felt sure a story had to be there. Lana invited me to an upcoming rehearsal to meet Jazzmun, David and the cast, but emphasized that I could not film anything at this first meeting. I met everyone and found that Jazzmun and David were interested in documenting their experience with their play. I sat in on a preliminary rehearsal in a hospital set and I took some still pictures. Knowing that these moments could not be repeated, my journalist instincts kicked in - I switched the camera to video mode and filmed the rehearsal "undercover" and unbeknownst to everyone. I'm glad I did - those earliest scenes made the final cut of the film! I introduced my documentary producing partner, Madeleine Liebert, with whom I had collaborated on several projects in the past. We all agreed to work together - four producers with different backgrounds from different walks of life, even different parts of the globe. Madeleine and I were not part of the LGBT community but we got a quick education and learned more as time went on. For the first three months of filming, I actually did not realize that three of the female-to-male transgender cast members had fully transitioned. The facial hair, body types and voices fit them naturally and I thought they were biological males in a pre-transitioning stage. As time went on, we got to know each other better and I learned a whole lot. I finally got the pronouns right…and Madeleine and I even enrolled in a LGBT Ally seminar at UCLA that was so helpful in understanding how we could be better supporters of our friends. The obvious story was about the coming together of this community to mount the play "Lovely Bouquet of Flowers: An Exploration of Non-Traditional Gender Voices," written by Jazzmun and David. As a journalist, I was equally interested in the real personal stories of the individual cast members. As director of the film, I fought to include these real stories through up close and personal interviews, showing how these individuals have so much in common with people from all walks of life. The cast members themselves were from all walks of life - the daughter of a devout Baptist preacher from the deep south, an African American born to heroin-addicted parents in New York City, a Puerto Rican beauty queen, a middle class mid-westerner with the full support of her family, an ex-military man and gang banger - a diverse cast covering a broad spectrum - Asian, Latino, and Black with human experiences of drugs, mental illness, bullying and more - all things that are an integral part of my own family history - and then, their stories of triumph, acceptance and celebration are all things that I can identify with and had to be addressed in our documentary. We worked together to conduct the bulk of the interviews in my DTLA loft. With lighting and Madeliene's production design we were able to establish distinctive looks for fourteen interviews! I was lucky to find a talented editor, Michael Bohouz, and after a group interview, the team decided he was the right match to help weave this story of putting a groundbreaking play together along with the personal journeys of seventeen courageous people - all in ninety minutes! We all had a vision for this project much before "transgender" was a household word. Ultimately, we worked closely together for over a year and now have a film we can be proud of sharing with the broad audience that we seek.