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ON TROPIC OF CAPRICORN, by K Carr (Guide to Women's Film and Video) |
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Written by Kika Nicolela
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Friday, 09 January 2009 |
Tropic Of Capricorn (2005)
30 minutes
Written, Produced and Directed by Kika Nicolela
Tropic of Capricorn is a short documentary by Kika Nicolela that tells
the tales of Brazilian transsexuals. The filmmaker rented out a hotel
room. Over the course of an evening four transsexuals are brought in
one-by-one. They lie upon the bed and tell their stories to the camera
which is mounted on the ceiling, echoing the film’s title, “Tropic of
Capricorn,” the southernmost point at which the sun can appear directly
overhead.
The transsexual subjects that the camera is poised on are quite
visually odd. However, challenging the viewer’s expectation, this
visual oddity is not rooted in their transexuality. Instead, they
“glow.” Through the use of video filters, each character radiates their
own unique color. And so not only are we put in a strange position as a
viewer but also the transsexual subjects are made equally strange. The
setting equal of the strangeness of the viewer and the subject is
telling. It is an early sign in the film of the politics of “setting
equal” and “seeing as the same”.
They crawl into bed or cuddle. Some splay out while others straddle.
All take their own unique position upon the bed and all tell their
story. In regards to the topic at hand, the bed seems to be of great
importance. It serves as a location of comfort, home and intimacy.
Moreover, for the transsexuals interviewed that worked as prostitutes
the bed is even more familiar. It is the workplace. The intimacy that
the bed affords adds to the identification of the viewer to the
interviewee. Moreover, the lack of camera movement which places the
locus solely on the bed and the transsexual offers a similar intimacy.
From above, the glowing transsexual looks not so much different than
sensational fictional alien autopsy: odd colors, strange anatomy. At
first this may cause a resistance and designation of otherness for the
viewer. However, the aforementioned intimacy that is established
refuses this. “All I really wanted to do was work abroad and settle
down…thats it,” says Jessica as she glows red. It is hard to imagine
this not being a universal sentiment of all persons. It is not a
transsexual speaking but a human being and perhaps they’re not that
different after all. And so taboo has been confronted. A fearful
situation is established. The audience is thrust into a dark room with
a sexually “other” person and the bed is right there. Oh No! But soon
enough, through the gripping conversations that the interviewees have,
the focus is shifted from the visual and superficial to something
deeper seated.
Since the films release in 2005 it has been honored, among other
places, at the Sopot Independent Film Festival as “Best Documentary”
and has been nominated as “Best Film” at both the International
Experimental Film Festival Carbunari and Mostra do Filme Livre. Such
films, especially addressing such taboo topics often find little
distribution space and eventually see quite a small audience in places
like festivals. However, the advent of Internet media films like this
can be found much more easily by those seeking media addressing such
topics. As of April 2007, The film is legally available in its entirely
on multiple streaming Internet sites such as youtube.com.
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