Goldsmiths College, University of London. Wikimedia Creative Commons license from Alex Blandford.

Goldsmiths Digital Media MA graduate, Anna Wistreich, has been nominated  for the Student category at the One World Media Awards.

The Danish producer is being recognised for the film ‘Being Unbound’.

This profiles an organization which aims to improve the life of transgender and LGBT people in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Anna’s film sheds light on some of the struggles LGBT people encounter in a country where they are often subject to hate crimes.

The film shows how they try to work through them in their everyday lives.

‘Being Unbound’- scene from One World Media award nominated film 2016. Image: Screenshot from trailer.

The One World Media awards ceremony takes place on the 16^th of June.

The scheme celebrates outstanding coverage of developing countries.

Awards are given to journalists and filmmakers for refugee reporting, television documentary, short film, radio and student production.

Anna Wistreich is among three media productions in the running for the Student Award.

The trailer for ‘Being Unbound’ informs its audience:

Tanzania in general is a very patriarchal and religious society. People don’t really know what it means to be transgender. In this organization they are trying to help people understand, what it means to be LGBT.

In the film we meet twenty-five year old Mwamba- female to male transperson.

Anna explains how Mwamba inspired her to do the film:

Anna’s aim has been to portray a different perspective on transgender life.

Changing gender often implies hormone treatment and gender reassignment surgery, but what is this process like in Tanzania?

If you live as a transgender in Tanzania, the whole system is kind of against you. If you go to the doctor, instead of helping you with the issues you’ve come there with, you’ll be met with comments such as ‘oh, but are you sure you’re actually transgender, I think you just need to go to the church more.’

Anna says Mwamba will not become a man in the same way as transgender people in western society,

Mwamba doesn’t expect to have gender reassignment surgery.

Hormone treatment is difficult to get a hold of and the medication is expensive.

Anna says:

I think a lot of the things he said in the film doesn’t just touch upon some of the issues that transgender are facing, but also how people need to change the way they are thinking about gender and sexuality.

One World Media funds students to cover countries in their development as well as giving awards for such coverage.

Anna’s ‘Being Unbound’ was one of the projects that received funding.

And the film is now being recognised with an award nomination.

It’s quite an honour to be nominated. I still feel like I’m a little MA student that doesn’t know what is going on in the world and in the industry. That [winning] would just be an amazing opportunity to hopefully get somewhere else or somewhere further.