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Time Out
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Time Out
Limefest 2025
Photograph: Courtesy Mari Eimas-Dietrich | Lili / Darwin The Tank squeezes more than 60 productions into a three-week festival of work by emerging artists who are female, nonbinary or gender-nonconfirming. The centerpiece is a full production of Lili / Darwin , a poetic solo work by the Brazilian writer-performer Darwin Del Fabro—returning to the stage after a gender transition—that explores parallels between her experience and that of Lili Elbe, the Danish painter and sex-change pioneer portrayed by Eddie Redmayne in the 2015 biopic The Danish Girl . Lead Tank girl Meghan Finn directs. The other shows in the festival are performed only once ; visit Visit the Tank's website for full information about them. Mon, Aug 11, 2025 Tue, Aug 12, 2025 Wed, Aug 13, 2025 Thu, Aug 14, 2025 Fri, Aug 15, 2025 Sat, Aug 16, 2025 Sun, Aug 17, 2025 Mon, Aug 18, 2025 Tue, Aug 19, 2025 Wed, Aug 20, 2025 Show more By entering your email address you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and consent to receive emails from Time Out about news, events, offers and partner promotions. 🙌 Awesome, you're subscribed! Thanks for subscribing! Look out for your first newsletter in your inbox soon! Discover Time Out original video
Scoop
03-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Scoop
The Māori-Samoan Art Director Championing Diversity
Article – RNZ 'What we put on stage and screen matters.' , RNZ Pacific Digital Journalist 'What we put on stage and screen matters.' This mantra forms the core of an online talent directory founded by Māori-Samoan (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Hine) art director Leon Bristow. BEINGS represents Aotearoa's People of Colour (POC), rainbow, and disabled talent in the advertising industry, 'disrupting the existent status quo' and using voices that Bristow said have been historically sidelined, or misrepresented, in casting calls for advertisements. Bristow's idea for BEINGS came while living in Spain, as he observed controversies in the creative industry over representation. 'There have been so many – Scarlett Johanson withdraws from roles after transgender backlash; Eddie Redmayne says starring in 'The Danish Girl' was a mistake; Taika Waititi's 'Time Bandits' under fire for lack of representation in cast.' He questioned the lag in representation in creative fields like advertising and recalled moments of frustration when working on sets, where he witnessed it first-hand. 'There have been comments that I don't always agree with (as an art director), because it is about profiling – racially profiling, stereotyping, pigeonholing. 'One time, we were casting for a queer couple, and we had people's thumbnails on the screen… some colleagues suggested we cast a person, because she 'looks queer'. 'I put my hand up and said, have we actually asked if they are queer? In these situations, you are taking opportunities away, income away, from these actual communities if we are giving it to a straight couple – and they don't know how to potray that identity authentically. So my next question was: shouldn't we ask that?' Bristow's personal experiences and identity have shaped his commitment to authentic representation. 'People can find it complicated. You have to raise your hand, backtrack through the process. Sometimes the intentions aren't bad but the questions aren't being asked. 'I have certainly grown a shorter tolerance for this. I have learnt, as one of the few Māori/Pasifika in the industry, that I have a responsibility to my community to give back. 'Starting this project up really supports that, and provides a new platform in this space.' Bristow's directory received funding from Creative New Zealand. 'What we are doing is creating a kaupapa that centres BIPOC, rainbow, and disabled voices in a way that allows them to not just exist, but thrive – from casting, to collaboration, to exhibition,' Bristow said. 'Our work is about creating futures where diversity isn't just an add-on, but a given.' At an Auckland Pride Festival Studio One – Toi Tū exhibition, BEINGS showcased some of the talent in its directory. Executive director for Auckland Pride, Hāmiora Bailey (Ngāti Porou Ki Harataunga, Ngāti Huarere), said the photography exhibition is a vital intervention in Aotearoa's media landscape. 'At a time when systemic exclusion still defines many of New Zealand's screen, television, and theatre sectors, BEINGS challenges prevailing stereotypes and opens space for more genuine storytelling,' he said. Bailey added that disparities in representation remain stark. A 2016 NZ On Air diversity report showed women made up 55 per cent of funded television producers, with 33 per cent directors, and 11 per cent had directed drama. Asian producers represented only one per cent, despite making up 11.8 percent of the population. Māori producers reached 23 percent in 2021, exceeding their population share, and Pacific producers were at 7.6 percent. Initiatives like the New Zealand Film Commission and Māoriland Film Festival have supported this shift.
Scoop
03-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Scoop
The Māori-Samoan Art Director Championing Diversity
Article – RNZ , RNZ Pacific Digital Journalist 'What we put on stage and screen matters.' This mantra forms the core of an online talent directory founded by Māori-Samoan (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Hine) art director Leon Bristow. BEINGS represents Aotearoa's People of Colour (POC), rainbow, and disabled talent in the advertising industry, 'disrupting the existent status quo' and using voices that Bristow said have been historically sidelined, or misrepresented, in casting calls for advertisements. Bristow's idea for BEINGS came while living in Spain, as he observed controversies in the creative industry over representation. 'There have been so many – Scarlett Johanson withdraws from roles after transgender backlash; Eddie Redmayne says starring in 'The Danish Girl' was a mistake; Taika Waititi's 'Time Bandits' under fire for lack of representation in cast.' He questioned the lag in representation in creative fields like advertising and recalled moments of frustration when working on sets, where he witnessed it first-hand. 'There have been comments that I don't always agree with (as an art director), because it is about profiling – racially profiling, stereotyping, pigeonholing. 'One time, we were casting for a queer couple, and we had people's thumbnails on the screen… some colleagues suggested we cast a person, because she 'looks queer'. 'I put my hand up and said, have we actually asked if they are queer? In these situations, you are taking opportunities away, income away, from these actual communities if we are giving it to a straight couple – and they don't know how to potray that identity authentically. So my next question was: shouldn't we ask that?' Bristow's personal experiences and identity have shaped his commitment to authentic representation. 'People can find it complicated. You have to raise your hand, backtrack through the process. Sometimes the intentions aren't bad but the questions aren't being asked. 'I have certainly grown a shorter tolerance for this. I have learnt, as one of the few Māori/Pasifika in the industry, that I have a responsibility to my community to give back. 'Starting this project up really supports that, and provides a new platform in this space.' Bristow's directory received funding from Creative New Zealand. 'What we are doing is creating a kaupapa that centres BIPOC, rainbow, and disabled voices in a way that allows them to not just exist, but thrive – from casting, to collaboration, to exhibition,' Bristow said. 'Our work is about creating futures where diversity isn't just an add-on, but a given.' At an Auckland Pride Festival Studio One – Toi Tū exhibition, BEINGS showcased some of the talent in its directory. Executive director for Auckland Pride, Hāmiora Bailey (Ngāti Porou Ki Harataunga, Ngāti Huarere), said the photography exhibition is a vital intervention in Aotearoa's media landscape. 'At a time when systemic exclusion still defines many of New Zealand's screen, television, and theatre sectors, BEINGS challenges prevailing stereotypes and opens space for more genuine storytelling,' he said. Bailey added that disparities in representation remain stark. A 2016 NZ On Air diversity report showed women made up 55 per cent of funded television producers, with 33 per cent directors, and 11 per cent had directed drama. Asian producers represented only one per cent, despite making up 11.8 percent of the population. Māori producers reached 23 percent in 2021, exceeding their population share, and Pacific producers were at 7.6 percent. Initiatives like the New Zealand Film Commission and Māoriland Film Festival have supported this shift.
Scoop
03-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Scoop
The Māori-Samoan Art Director Championing Diversity
, RNZ Pacific Digital Journalist "What we put on stage and screen matters." This mantra forms the core of an online talent directory founded by Māori-Samoan (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Hine) art director Leon Bristow. BEINGS represents Aotearoa's People of Colour (POC), rainbow, and disabled talent in the advertising industry, "disrupting the existent status quo" and using voices that Bristow said have been historically sidelined, or misrepresented, in casting calls for advertisements. Bristow's idea for BEINGS came while living in Spain, as he observed controversies in the creative industry over representation. "There have been so many - Scarlett Johanson withdraws from roles after transgender backlash; Eddie Redmayne says starring in 'The Danish Girl' was a mistake; Taika Waititi's 'Time Bandits' under fire for lack of representation in cast." He questioned the lag in representation in creative fields like advertising and recalled moments of frustration when working on sets, where he witnessed it first-hand. "There have been comments that I don't always agree with (as an art director), because it is about profiling - racially profiling, stereotyping, pigeonholing. "One time, we were casting for a queer couple, and we had people's thumbnails on the screen… some colleagues suggested we cast a person, because she 'looks queer'. "I put my hand up and said, have we actually asked if they are queer? In these situations, you are taking opportunities away, income away, from these actual communities if we are giving it to a straight couple - and they don't know how to potray that identity authentically. So my next question was: shouldn't we ask that?" Bristow's personal experiences and identity have shaped his commitment to authentic representation. "People can find it complicated. You have to raise your hand, backtrack through the process. Sometimes the intentions aren't bad but the questions aren't being asked. "I have certainly grown a shorter tolerance for this. I have learnt, as one of the few Māori/Pasifika in the industry, that I have a responsibility to my community to give back. "Starting this project up really supports that, and provides a new platform in this space." Bristow's directory received funding from Creative New Zealand. "What we are doing is creating a kaupapa that centres BIPOC, rainbow, and disabled voices in a way that allows them to not just exist, but thrive - from casting, to collaboration, to exhibition," Bristow said. "Our work is about creating futures where diversity isn't just an add-on, but a given." At an Auckland Pride Festival Studio One - Toi Tū exhibition, BEINGS showcased some of the talent in its directory. Executive director for Auckland Pride, Hāmiora Bailey (Ngāti Porou Ki Harataunga, Ngāti Huarere), said the photography exhibition is a vital intervention in Aotearoa's media landscape. "At a time when systemic exclusion still defines many of New Zealand's screen, television, and theatre sectors, BEINGS challenges prevailing stereotypes and opens space for more genuine storytelling," he said. Bailey added that disparities in representation remain stark. A 2016 NZ On Air diversity report showed women made up 55 per cent of funded television producers, with 33 per cent directors, and 11 per cent had directed drama. Asian producers represented only one per cent, despite making up 11.8 percent of the population. Māori producers reached 23 percent in 2021, exceeding their population share, and Pacific producers were at 7.6 percent. Initiatives like the New Zealand Film Commission and Māoriland Film Festival have supported this shift.
Boston Globe
18-05-2025
- General
- Boston Globe
The story of a little-known transgender pioneer has fully come to light
Dora would become the first person to undergo gender confirmation surgery, complete with vaginoplasty, depilation, and hormonal supplements. She began the process in 1931 and would complete it two weeks ahead of Lili Elbe's better-known transition, depicted in the film 'The Danish Girl . ' Elbe has a street named for her; I've visited her grave, upon which people moved by her story as a transgender pioneer have left mementos. Get The Gavel A weekly SCOTUS explainer newsletter by columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr. Enter Email Sign Up Few remember Dora. Advertisement Dora Richter's grave in Allersberg, Germany, is unmarked, and its general location was only I'd spent three years in archives in Berlin chasing down Dora's story. Finding Dora required hunting through government documents, translating hundred-year-old dissertations, and looking for material that survived Nazi purges. For me, pulling together the disparate pieces of her life into a book has been a task of exhumation as much as reclamation. Advertisement For years, when mentioned at all, Dora appeared as a coda to a tragedy — a victim of the Nazis who attacked the Institute for Sexual Science in 1933. But Dora's story is bigger, brighter, and longer than that dark period. She outlived her persecutors and survived long after the Third Reich had fallen. This is the story of a forgotten first, the vibrant and unsinkable Dora who lived her life with authenticity. Dora Richter circa 1930. Unknown The village of Seifen stands at an elevation of around 3,000 feet. Despite its location on the Czech side of the border, most of the residents were then German and Catholic. On April 17, 1892, a Rudolf Richter would be entered into the town's baptismal records as the second child of Josef and Antonia, a musician and a lacemaker. Antonia had wished for a girl, and reproductive superstitions were strong in the late 19th century. Her wishes were thought to have been transferred onto the child, who was born a cherubic creature, small and delicate, and took after her mother in looks and personality. Antonia taught her children lacemaking, but their father rebuked the art as inappropriate for a boy. He insisted that Rudolf wear trousers, but Rudolf took to sneaking dresses from the girls. 'He' then chose the name Dora and wore women's clothing in secret, despite the threat of a beating. It is unclear exactly when she adopted the new name, but she wrote letters to a schoolmate under the name Dora. Dora Richter circa 1930. Unknown With the first signs of puberty, Dora even attempted to remove the offending penis. The first try failed, and the child feared to make a second. Inconsolable, Dora swallowed nails in a suicide attempt. She was only 13 years old. Advertisement I read Dora's account of this for the first time in a dimly lit reading room at Humboldt University in Berlin. An unpublished doctoral thesis contained the transcript of an interview with Dora from 1923. Typed on onion skin paper in fading purple ink were Dora's own words. I was struck then, as I am now, by how strikingly similar Dora's plight resembles that of modern transgender teens. For all the talk of trans identity being a modern invention, in the 19th century a working-class teenager in an isolated mountain town had the same struggles. Dora would eventually leave home to work as an apprentice baker to send money back to her family. Whenever possible, she dressed and lived as a woman. More than anything, she wanted to be loved by a man — but as a woman. And for this simplest of wishes, she faced abuse and ridicule from her family, threats and blackmail from strangers, and the risk of imprisonment — or worse, as the rising Nazi party targeted gender and sexual nonconformists. When I began researching Dora's life in 2020, I was convinced, like many researchers before me, that she had met her end at the Institute for Sexual Science in 1933, the day Hitler's 'Sturmabteilung,' a paramilitary organization, sacked it and burned its books — a tragedy immortalized in black-and-white film reels. Until at least 2023, everyone assumed Dora was killed in this attack. It was only when I, Clara Hartman, and a few others began digging deeper did the full story emerge. Advertisement The intake interview revealed what Dora thought about herself as well as her adventures, her lovers, her heartbreaks. An update to her birth record showed that she had returned home after the notorious book burning. A spare mention in a census revealed she had escaped both the Nazis and the encroaching Soviets to return to Allersberg. In each mention, her new gender, achieved surgically, was preserved: Dora was the woman who lived. She made lace, tended flowers, and kept pet birds; she was remembered as a smiling old woman who died peacefully. She lived a long and healthy life. So why, I asked myself, hadn't her story been preserved along with that of Lili Elbe? Elbe was a painter, supported largely by her partner, and she even wrote a book about her experiences. Dora, on the other hand, eschewed the limelight. She was not glamorous or well-heeled. She had no higher education, no grand aspirations, no claim to titles. She worked menial jobs in factories and as a maid. Her experience reveals the quiet life of a person who, above all, wished to be an ordinary woman. There are many more Doras than Lilis — thousands of transgender people leading lives that will not be memorialized. And that is what makes her so very important right now. Pulling her story from the fragments of history likewise helps us recognize there are countless transgender people who have always been among us, living, loving, struggling, and also quietly thriving.
