Tropfest is the world’s biggest short film festival(oxymoron???). The 2013 Tropfest film winner was West Australian filmmaker Matt Hardie’s film “Bamboozled”. Tropfest began in Sydney Australia over 20 years ago has continued to grow in size and notoriety.

Matt Hardie also won the best actor award at Tropfest for his role in the film. In describing how he came up with the film’s concept, Hardie said “I was going for a walk, I knew I wanted to make a Tropfest film and sex change popped into my head.”

Unfortunately, the film has created an outcry from the transgender community, some of whom find it offensive and are concerned that the film portrays them as freaks. I believe that is a bit of an over reaction to this movie. On the other hand, their sensitivity is also understandable when there are people like Todd Kincannon, the former executive director of the South Carolina Republican Party, making hateful comments about the transgender community. This past October, Kincannon launched into an anti-transgender tirade on his now suspended Twitter account.

“The only things I hate these days are commies, trannies, and most Muslims.”
— Todd Kincannon (@ToddKincannon) October 5, 2013

“I have no problem with gays but I hate trannies. I think they are disgusting freaks, and they are. Am I evil?”
— Todd Kincannon (@ToddKincannon) October 6, 2013

“There are people who respect transgender rights. And there are people who think you should all be put in a camp. That’s me.”
— Todd Kincannon (@ToddKincannon) October 14, 2013

“I have plenty of compassion for trannies. They should all be locked up in mental institutions and their care paid for by the state.”
— Todd Kincannon (@ToddKincannon) October 14, 2013

“I’m totally ok with gays and I celebrate female bisexuality as if it were the Mona Lisa of genital sports. But transsexuals are sick freaks.”
— Todd Kincannon (@ToddKincannon) October 14, 2013

Although some people are clearly uncomfortable with the whole transgender issue, it has become a more prevalent theme in the entertainment industry. The novel, “The Danish Girl”, a fictionalized account of the life of Lili Elbe, the first person to undergo sex reassignment surgery, is being made into a movie starring Nicole Kidman and Charlize Theron. In 2012, “Hit & Miss”, a British television series about a transsexual contract killer, premiered in both England and the United States. “Hollyoaks”, a long-running British television teen drama, introduced the character of Jason Costello, a boy who feels that he’s a male in a girl’s body, in 2011. In 2005, TransGeneration first appeared on the Sundance Channel. This eight episode documentary series depicted the lives of four transgender college students and their struggle as they were gender transitioning. The series is currently back on the Sundance Channel.