Calpernia Addams Diary » Casting Pearls

London Day 5 – Casting Pearls Screens

Calpernia Addams — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 16:05:00 +0000

Above, you can see a quick cameraphone clip of the audience right after “Casting Pearls” has screened.

Today, “Casting Pearls” screened as part of a shorts program called “The Part I Was Born to Play”, featuring films that comment on trans representation and participation in media. It was the first film in the series, and was very well received. People laughed and clapped in all the right places. Everyone was amazed at Andrea’s ability to do all the different voices, too.

Later, I participated in a two hour panel discussion on trans media issues with some other filmmakers. People asked lots of insightful questions, and we talked about things like YouTube and self starting.

There was a party sponsored by London FTM next, and then a dinner with some of the filmmakers. I’ve enjoyed socializing with Kyle, a lovely festival programmer originally from Kentucky(!) who now spends time between London and the US.

London Day 1 – Arrival and Yorkshire

Calpernia Addams — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 15:45:00 +0000

Arriving in London was fairly painless. Let me just say that Air France is a dream after all the cut-rate flights I’ve had recently between various states in the US. They gave us two full meals for free, with wine and everything. Each seat had an individual video screen from which you could choose various movies, tv shows or video games. And best of all, there was no one in the seats next to me, so I got to spread out and sleep comfortably the whole flight.

In the video above, aside from being horrible quality, you lose all sense of depth, which was one of the more lovely aspects of the sight. The moors extend to a far distant horizon, where they dissolve into fog, with occasional small farms and herds of sheep. It was very lonely, yet beauiful.

My Yorkshire friends picked me up at Heathrow and whisked me away to a charming converted mill in the moors, where I spent two lovely days exploring the small town and then falling asleep to the sound of the rushing stream that had once powered the mill.

At the local pub, they had “quiz night”, wherein everyone gathers into teams and writes down their answers to 60 questions read aloud by last week’s winners. We lost, and I’m mortified to say that one of the points we missed was due to my inability to recall the capital of West Virginia. Elementary School was so long ago, sigh!

Calpernia Going to London to Represent “Casting Pearls” and “Beautiful Daughters”

Calpernia Addams — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 23:59:00 +0000

I am scheduled to appear at the London event and to participate in a forum about transgender and media. I’ll be arriving in London on April 1st and leaving April 8th.

Deep Stealth Productions’ short film “Casting Pearls” has been chosen to screen in the 22nd London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival. The festival, organized by the British Film Institute (BFI), is the third largest film festival in the UK and attracts audiences of over 25,000. The LLGFF will run from 27 March – 10 April 2008.

* London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival

* British Film Institute

* Casting Pearls website

Directed by Andrea James, Casting Pearls illustrates the difficulties transsexual women face in Hollywood via a hectic series of auditions endured by Cassandra, a transsexual actress (played by Calpernia Addams). Cassandra weathers the horrible, funny and cruel things said by various Hollywood professionals with plucky determination and professionalism, showing that decades of bias can’t hold back the real contributions of transgender people to the arts and media.

Deep Stealth’s Calpernia Addams is scheduled to appear at the London event and to participate in a forum about transgender and media.

* London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival

* British Film Institute

* Casting Pearls website

“Casting Pearls” Premieres on Logo! Watch Online! Vote for us!

Calpernia Addams — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 17:13:00 +0000

http://www.logoonline.com/shows/events/short_films/details.jhtml?cid=1572504

OMG! As you may know, the Logo network bought our short film, “Casting Pearls”, and it aired last night at 10:30pm. You can also watch “Casting Pearls” online, and help us out by voting for it on the Logo site (please! kiss kiss!) So give it a look, click the vote button, and thank you for all your help!

Calpernia and Andrea at The Egyptian Theatre with Casting Pearls

Calpernia Addams — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 06:23:01 +0000

Hey kids… just some video of yours truly and Andrea giving an intro and then answering questions for “Casting Pearls“. =)

I’m “VERY Charismatic” !!! =)

Calpernia Addams — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 22:44:01 +0000

There’s a very kind review of “Casting Pearls” in Karman Kregloe’s After Ellen blog:

Casting Pearls by Andrea James was about the misadventures of a transsexual actress (played by the very charismatic Calpernia Addams) who can’t get a break.

Yay!

I just watched an old favorite of mine last night, the Doris Day movie “Please Don’t Eat the Daisies”, which I hadn’t seen since I was a child. I mostly remembered a funny white St. Bernard dog jumping on people, but watching it as an adult, I realized that it’s about a theatre critic and his wife overcoming the friction caused by his ascending career and increasing poison pen. I’m glad I haven’t had to suffer much in the way of criticism so far. I’m sure it will come, as I’m still learning so much as far as film/tv is concerned. As long as it’s tempered by some good, I suppose I’ll deal with it all as it comes!