Current Time TV's Form #087 mini-series on the lives of transgender Russians has been nominated for Best Representation on Screen at the 2019 Content Innovation Awards on October 13. In this interview, series creator Yekaterina Ponomaryova, a Russian documentary filmmaker, explains how she came up with the idea for the series and why, despite pervasive negative stereotypes, tolerance toward transgenders runs strongest in Russia's provinces.
In Soviet times, Aleksandra Selyaninova worked for 16 years within the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ regional offices. When she retired in 1989, she made another change as well: She changed her sex, becoming a woman. "I took off my uniform and put on a dress," she says with a laugh. (Filmmaker: Yekaterina Ponomaryova)