Afioco Gnecco, trans filmmaker nominated for the Goya for ‘Ciao Bambina’: “It would be a milestone to win, but helping people is better”

The filmmaker regrets that trans men “do not exist” in society and assures that the Gender Identity Units are a “pending” debt

The filmmaker Afioco Gnecco, nominated in the 39th edition of the Goya Awards for his documentary short film ‘Ciao Bambina’, recognizes that winning on February 8 would be a “milestone” because no trans person has managed to win any ‘big head’, but He is clear that “helping people is the best reward.”

“What I like the most is helping people, which is the best reward. There are also people who are not familiar with the subject or who do not agree with our own existence, but they come up to me and say ‘if this is I would have seen before, I would think differently’ or ‘now I understand’, it’s something wonderful,” he said in an interview with Europa Press.

His production, directed together with the actress Carolina Yuste, is a candidate for the Goya in the category of Best Documentary Short Film, a section that it shares with ‘Els buits’, ‘Las novias del sur’, ‘Los 30 (no) son el nueva 20’ ‘ and ‘Seeds of Kivu’. “If we win it would be a milestone and a hug for the entire group. Although if ‘Els buits’ wins I will also be very happy because they are gender dissidents. The fact that women or non-binary or trans people win is positive. It is changing the narrative and any film that is not normative is fine with me,” he said.

Gnecco shows his process of transition to a man in ‘Ciao Bambina’ and celebrates that his short film changes “ideological barriers.” “I think that if all this happens, we are not doing it wrong,” he emphasizes. The director reveals that there are many trans “kids” who have been recognized and for whom the documentary has meant “a hug.”

“They have written to us a lot telling us that they have been recognized. I think that this narrative was quite necessary, at least for me. It is a short that I would have needed to see as a child because then it would not have taken me so long to know who he was,” he said. affirmed.

Gnecco says in the short that he has stopped going to the pool and the sea – even though he loves it – because of the changes his body has experienced in the last year. “Now everyone knows about my life. I’m assimilating it and having a lot of therapy. At no point have I been aware of the magnitude that this was going to take,” he admits.

In the short he also mentions the first appointment he had with the endocrinologist, whom he told to “fuck off”, and who performed the “life test” on him. “They ask you absurd things that are supposed to measure your masculinity or your femininity. They ask you ‘if you played soccer when you were little’, ‘if you wear underwear’, ‘what colors do you like’… Is that really going to determine what I am such a man,” he laments and adds that he “collapsed” and left the office.

“I have stories of trans friends who started their medication three, four or five years ago and who have been told by medical professionals: ‘Let’s see how you walk, let’s see if you are a woman enough.’ extreme violence,” he denounces.

The title ‘Ciao Bambina’ alludes to the farewell through a letter that helped him “make peace with the person who was before.” “I used to mess with her a lot, but that person is the one who brought me here. I had to thank him. The short is serving as therapy, very expensive, but therapy,” he says, laughing.

“THEY CONTINUE TALKING TO YOU IN FEMININE WHEN YOU ARE A MAN”

On the other hand, Gnecco points out that in Spain there is “a lot” of information missing regarding gender changes, at the same time that he recognizes that the Trans Law has helped to achieve progress, although there are professionals who treat trans people with a pronoun with which he does not identify.

“I don’t know if due to ignorance, lack of empathy or simply that they don’t agree with gender changes, there are some who continue to treat you as feminine when perhaps you already have a beard. It’s absurd,” he commented.

Likewise, he criticizes the treatment when he goes to the gynecologist, since he considers that the system “collapses.” “At the gynecologist it’s already laughing. Once you change your ID, you’re already a man. Therefore, the system collapses because they can’t send you to gynecology,” he reveals.

The director praises the work that Catalonia and the Basque Country have done in recent years to provide trans people with specialized centers with professionals who “do not speak to you in feminine terms or directly speak badly to you.” However, she lives in Madrid, where she considers that there is pending work regarding trans people, although she confesses that she has changed “a lot.”

MACHISMO

During the interview, Afioco Gnecco points out that there is “machismo” around trans men, since operations are more advanced for trans women, something he believes is due to them being “sexualized.” “It is something that the patriarchy is interested in. But we continue to be the last monkey and we are at the tail of all social movements,” he lamented.

In this sense, she criticizes the fact that the trans movement is socially associated with women and denounces that trans men are “totally invisible”, while adding that women “suffer much more violence.”

“When you’ve been on hormones for a year or two, you camouflage yourself very well and increase your privilege. You no longer have annoying guys around you, no one says anything to you at night and you can return home safely,” he noted.

However, he highlights that he was very activist when he was a woman, so “now he couldn’t stop doing it.” “We need to be on a global level because we don’t exist. The phrase that if it doesn’t appear on TV it doesn’t exist is real. The girls have been in many more audiovisual projects and have been the protagonists of many more stories,” he cries.

GENDER IDENTITY UNITS, A PENDING DEBT

Finally, Afioco Gnecco has called for the defense of public health and has defended that trans people “have the same right as any person to be in social security.” “I pay my taxes like anyone else and I have the same right as someone who is diabetic and who needs their things to live,” he emphasizes.

“I think that each person has their own peculiarity to exist. If I had not traveled and I did not have my hormones, I would have still jumped out of the window,” he acknowledged.

In this sense, he argues that the Gender Identity Units are an outstanding debt with trans people and hopes that there will be more aid to achieve better progress and more treatment will be covered. “I don’t think it’s something questionable to take away from healthcare,” he adds.

“Gender changes are operations that save lives. There are people with such a high level of gender dysphoria that they are capable of committing suicide or mutilating their bodies. I think it is vital that they cover themselves for these things,” he said. In addition, he points out that the waiting list for girls is five years and for boys is two, so “many end up asking for loans or becoming prostitutes” to have surgery sooner.