From director Chad Hahne and producer Chris Panizzon, the documentary feature film, Transformistas set in Cuba about the queer and trans community will premiere at the OUTshine festival in Miami on August 25, 2020.
Transformistas is such a strong and original piece of work centered around the oldest gay bar in Cuba and profiles the first group of artists, known as “El Futuro”, to perform a weekly public drag shows in 1991. The film was shot undercover as the communist government continues to regulate all media in Cuba. The story reveals some very surprising events from the years that the HIV + community was quarantined to more recent times as the LGBTQ+ has gained visibility and protections with the aid of Mariela Castro, the niece of Fidel. The subjects are riveting and colorful, and the story follows Samatha, one of the original members of El Futuro, who returns at age 53 for her final drag performance.
Director Chad Hahne has spent his career producing projects for both film and television, including the Academy Award nominated film How to Survive a Plague and Emmy Award winning RuPaul’s Drag Race. He has produced television shows and content for MTV, Bravo, Discovery Channel, Conde’ Nast, The Food Network, VHI, Bravo, The Weather Channel and Comedy Central. Previously, he spent five years in the Development and Production department of The Weinstein Company. Recently, Chad has directed his artistic passion towards the creation of socially important documentaries.
Producer Chris Panizzon, has produced several documentaries / hybrids including LA WOMAN RISING (Dir Nana Ghana) with Rosario Dawson that premiered last year and was a AppleTV #25 Ranked Documentary film, WHITE RABBIT (Dir. Daryl Wein) which premiered at Sundance 2018 and was programmed in over 60 film festivals worldwide, POLITICAL ANIMALS which won 11 Best Documentary Awards worldwide including the Audience and Jury Award at the Los Angeles Film Festival 2017. He just mastered a completed production on THE EMPTY ROOM (Dir. Nana Ghana) about one African American woman’s feelings of isolation and discovery during quarantine.
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