Telling Authentic Stories | Featured Filmmakers Series
How Alexys Hillman Is Using Film To Spread Truth
We don't talk about documentaries enough. At least not outside the scope of true crime expose's or the ones winning Oscars. Film is used as a medium to tell stories but we should not disregard films capacity to tell the truth. Our 40th featured filmmaker here on the blog had very little experience with cameras or shooting but knew that there was truth that needed to be told and would find a way to do so.
Alexys Hillman (Ze/Zir) was working as a family physician where part of their practice involved hormone replacement therapy for transgender patients. Working in this space revealed just how difficult it was for some patients to afford gender-confirming surgeries, the extra hurdles they needed to navigate for insurance purposes, but also how relieved and happy they were after becoming themselves through the surgery. And so the idea for How To Dream was sparked; a web series that focused on telling the stories Alexys was seeing around them in their work. "At the same time, there were an increasing number of anti-LGBTQ bills being proposed around the country," Alexys said, "and I wanted people to know what trans people, in particular, were actually going through, what they were facing with these bills."
But Alexys was a doctor, not a filmmaker. "There’s certainly a steep learning curve when it comes to filmmaking," ze said, "I’ve always been creative in other ways, and I’ve always loved photography. Trying to do this professionally, though, is a whole different bag to handle." There are many platforms available and multiple ways to tell these stories so why was film the medium Alexys chose to go with? "I wanted to create a setting in which trans people could tell their stories in their own voices, at their own pace, in a medium that people were likely to engage with. It’s easy to misinterpret tone with written pieces, or just to put less emphasis on an aspect of the story that, to the person, was significant, or traumatic, or the crux of the whole ordeal. I wanted their voices to be heard, and for them to be seen, not my words or my summary of what they told me."
As a relatively new filmmaker Alexys faced hurdles of zir own throughout the production process namely funding and that steep learning curve. "I have been self-funding this project from the beginning." Alexys said, "I didn’t want the hassle of trying to find funding for a project that people would try to take moral or political issue with, or try to judge the profitability of. This was about trans people’s stories, not how much money could be made off it." Alexys also needed to overcome zir own self doubts whilst working on the project. "I had never been to film school, or even knowingly glanced at the outside of one. I would literally sit at the computer with “Filmmaking for Dummies” open next to me, looking up how to do things and looking for guidance online. I was worried that my own lack of experience was going to detract from people’s perceptions of the project, and that it was ultimately going to hurt trans people instead of help them."
But How To Dream is a lesson in why film, and documentary in particular, is an important medium for storytelling in and of itself. In a way, a more experienced filmmaker whilst still doing justice to their story could have become bogged down in the technicailty, favoring style over substance, and in the process lost the authenticity that gives these people's stories weight. There is a raw quality to the episodes that achieves the aim of this project which is bringing awareness to the everyday struggles trans people face.
"There’s this perception that a trans person can just walk in off the street and demand top surgery or bottom surgery, and that’s really not the case." Alexys explained, "By the time they get to a physician or surgeon for gender-affirming care, they’ve already been through therapists and psychiatrists and school counselors and primary care doctors, and they’ve had a wide range of both positive and negative experiences with that. As a doctor, I can’t tell you how many people were so nervous coming to me because they didn’t know if I would prescribe them hormones or even just believe them that they were trans. They didn’t know if they were “trans enough.” It has been horrifying to hear some of the things these people have been through, the threats they’ve received from people, the humiliations they’ve faced, and the incredibly bone-headed, stupid things medical and mental health professionals have said to them about being trans."
The process wasn't an entirely uphill battle however as Alexys got to travel around America to states she'd never been before and talk with professionals and advocacy groups supporting trans people. Plus Alexys also discovered a passion for the art of filmmaking. "Doing this work has definitely opened my mind to the possibilities of what I can achieve." Ze told me, "It’s really hard getting started, because you’re constantly thinking, “Oh, but I didn’t go to film school, I don’t have a fancy camera, But I’ve found that I do have a talent for it, and I am skilled at storytelling...You can definitely look forward to more projects from me. I have two screenplays that I’m working on finishing that I am hoping to direct myself locally here in Florida. In July, I start filming a new series for YouTube about lighthouses. My goal is to start releasing those episodes in September or October."