Samantha K. Tan

My Monster And I

A 10 year old girl confronts the monster under her bed and uses her new found bravery to face her abusive father.

Trans Heaven, Pennsylvania

In the 1970s and 1980s, the small Pennsylvania town of New Hope was among a few safe havens outside of major cities for gay men to find community. Over 30 years later, the town’s legacy remained, but now for a different community: transgender women. Trans Heaven, Pennsylvania explores the untold story of legendary, weekend-long parties that saw hundreds of transgender women and self-identified crossdressers take over the town, traveling from all over the country to meet other people like them. Through both interviews and stunning animation sequences that utilize never-before-seen archival photography, audiences not only get a glimpse into the heyday of these events in the early 2010s but also the iconic gay bar The Raven which became the unlikely cornerstone of these weekends.