Race and Gender Meet on Rashaad Ernesto Green’s Latest Film, “Gun Hill Road”

Rarely do independent films that tackle transgender issues receive mainstream attention. Even more rare are films of any sort that interweave Latino identity in the context of a transgender story. “Gun Hill Road,” the debut film by Bronx, N.Y.-native Rashaad Ernesto Green has defied expectations on both counts, becoming not only a run-a-way success on the film festival circuit but also securing a rarity for independent LGBT cinema: a theatrical release.

 

“Gun Hill Road” is set, as the title suggests, on Gun Hill Road, one of the major thoroughfares that cuts through the Bronx. It tells the story of Vanessa, a young person transitioning from male gender identity, as Michael, to female gender identity. Vanessa is played by transgender actor Harmony Santana. After three years in prison, Vanessa’s father Enrique, played by Esai Morales, comes home and is unable to understand how and why his son would want to live as a woman.

Enrique, raised in a traditional Puerto Rican cultural background, displays his machismo as he makes increasingly dramatic efforts to try and hold on to the Michael he knew before prison. Vanessa’s mother Angela, played by Judy Reyes, balances out Enrique’s rage by supporting Vanessa’s transition despite her own struggles with it.

The film is most resonant as a coming-of-age drama, buoyed by Santana’s vulnerable and emotionally complex performance. But it is also a deeply felt family story that connects Latino identity to transgender identity in a groundbreaking way. While the political and social commentary is sometimes subtle and nuanced, the overall theme of love and acceptance for all people, especially LGBT individuals within communities of color, pervades the story.

I sat down with Green and Reyes to talk about the overlap between race, sexuality and gender that their film explores.

One of the most noticeable things about the film is the setting. Was the film always going to be set in the Bronx?

Green: Yes. It was always the Bronx. Gun Hill Road is an actual street in the Bronx. I was born in the Bronx and my parents grew up there. The family [the film] was inspired by was a Bronx family.

And Judy, you were also born and raised in the Bronx?

On a street perpendicular to Gun Hill Road. My relationship to the Bronx contributed to what you see on screen. I was like “I’m going home.” I felt I was born to play this part because I was extremely familiar with the surroundings. I had three different addresses in the Bronx until I was 26.

How did you decide to pick a transgender character?

Green: It was based on a family I knew who went through a very similar situation. The child was transitioning and, as in the film, the family deteriorates over the course of a few years due to the father’s inability to accept the child. As an outsider and an artist, I wanted to make a film that spoke to their experiences and represent how two individuals struggled to come together because of their differences.

Judy, how did you deal with the transgender storyline of the film? Did you have to do extra work to understand transgender issues?

I came a month early to visit transgender and LGBT organizations. I interviewed moms with transgender kids. I actually developed a relationship with Harmony’s mom and spoke to her at length. I established a relationship with some of Rashaad’s people to grasp an understanding of trans issues.

When making the film, did you feel stories of transgender characters weren’t found enough in film?

Green: It’s definitely infrequent. But especially a teenage transgender youth in the Latino community. We have never ever seen them before [in theaters]. We’ve never seen their struggle. Here in New York, we do see gay and transgender youth of color all of the time, but we never see the struggles they have to face in their families. It is the responsibility of artists in our community to address these issues.