“The church says: the body it's shame. The science says: the body it's a machine. The publicity says: the body it's a business. The body says: I am a party!!!”

It’s from this quote by Eduardo Galeano that Bleue Pronovost-Teyssier builds their film The Body/transmutationem, in order to explore the relationship between the body and trans identity.

We meet Miko and Aimer, two trans men from Québec who open up about the role the body plays in affirming their masculinities within a society that constantly questions their identity. By choosing split screen as a formal device throughout the film, Bleue alternates between the two protagonists, exploring questions such as misgendering, bodily transformation, and the various consequences these experiences entail. Miko and Aimer share both the way they see themselves and the way others perceive them, through comments made about their appearances — which they shape through sport, intimate moments before the mirror, and testosterone treatments that can sometimes verge on becoming an almost addictive "substance."

Fortunately, the body remains a celebration, a space for creation and expression. And we’re reminded of this when, at the end, their stories merge into one single, shared narrative body.

Clément Guillaume
Filmmaker and former student of ÉMCV