Light on a Path, Follow
Joaquín, a transgender person living in rural 1990s New England, is 8-months pregnant. After encountering a mysterious spirit in the forest, Joaquín goes into labor early. Is this spirit haunting or guiding Joaquín as they await their midwife?
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Elliot MontagueDirectorWe've Been Around: Camp Trans, Wrest, Mainstay, Well Dressed, Through the Skin
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Elliot MontagueWriterWe've Been Around: Camp Trans, Wrest, Mainstay, Well Dressed, Through the Skin
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Patrisse Khan-CullorsProducerBET's Finding Justice, Resist, Outdooring
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Chloe LeeProducerThe Afterlight
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Jesse EisenbergProducer(as producer) The World Before Your Feet, Beam Gives Me Hiccups
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Anna StroutProducerThe 24 Hour Plays on Broadway, The 24 Hour Plays LA, The People Speak Ireland, Virus of Violence, Anhelos: an immigrant life in the US Midwest, Beep Baseball
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Elliot MontagueProducerWrest, Mainstay, Well Dressed, Through the Skin
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Vick QuezadaKey Cast"Joaquín"
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Lucia Leandro GimenoKey Cast"Birthworker Spirt "
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Project Type:Short
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Genres:Sci-Fi, LGBTQ, Supernatural
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Runtime:14 minutes 49 seconds
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Completion Date:September 3, 2019
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Production Budget:24,200 USD
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Country of Origin:United States
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Country of Filming:United States
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Language:English
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Shooting Format:Digital 4K
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Aspect Ratio:2.39:1
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:No
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Student Project:No
Elliot Montague's films explore the nuances of trans and queer narratives through engagement with familial relationships, spirits, and rural landscapes. His work has contributed significantly to the current wave of "New Trans Cinema." Over the past two decades, Elliot's films have received international recognition at dozens of festivals and museums, including the Media Arts Festival in Osnabruck, Germany, the Tribeca Film Festival, the Anthology Film Archives in New York, and the Dashanzi Arts Festival in Beijing, among others. Elliot is a twice recipient of the prestigious Princess Grace Award from the Princess Grace Foundation and his films are partially distributed through Women Make Movies and Video Data Bank. He teaches film production within the Five College Consortium in Western Massachusetts.
www.elliotmontague.com
The story for Light on a Path, Follow originates from my own desire for parenthood and the experience of pregnancy as a transgender masculine person. This film explores transmasculine pregnancy, queer of color birthwork and connections to ancestral spirits through an intimate relationship to nature. Pregnancy and birthing are often assumed as a woman’s experience, but the film expands who is able to be pregnant. It is not simply trying to redefine the pregnant body as a masculine or a trans-masculine experience, but it explores pregnancy as a mode of thinking about transitions to other spiritual worlds or other kinds of connections. I think of pregnancy as not only bringing life into the world but also into oneself. For a trans person, this sort of “transitioning” can be a very powerful opportunity to find a sense of home or solace within oneself.