Toronto Film Festival Dailies

THE PEOPLE’S JOKER

TIFF 2022

With director Vera Drew

By Emmanuel Itier

Who am I? What am I, truly and really? Would the World accept me as such? These are crucial question asked by brilliant and inspired director Vera Drew. Whether you are a transgender or not, like me, one can only applaud the initiative endeavor of her film, ‘The People’s joker’, giving you the faith, the force, the power to follow your destiny, to achieve the vision you have of yourself to fit in this chaos like existence. Life is a gamble, and you are the player in charge of your destiny. Fasten your mind belt, dare to face yourself and society and let’s rock it!

Q: Where does the idea of making this film come from?

Vera: The idea came out of seeing joker. I Loved it. It spoke to me. To tell story about the institutional structure we are face to and where we are at. It started as an experimental idea of making a film with found footage from the Batman movies. The idea was to explore queerness through these characters. Combined all type of footage. I realize I wanted to make my own joker movie. Something original as it resonates to me as a trans woman coming out and with comedy. I had a lot to process. This film is me processing all of this. Ultimately it’s about healing. 

Q: Healing process?

Vera: Yes, I’m tired of hearing the world is ending. As a society I believe we are healing. I’m healing with dealing with my queerness. My film is touching a lot of sensitive subjects. As a child I was put through mental stress instead of getting the Tran-gender healing I needed. Children are denied in America trans gender medical help. It’s insane. It bothers me. I see all of that moving in a healing path we hopefully need. It breaks my heart with what trans people go through, but I think we are heading to a place of change and acceptance: it’s on the horizon.

Q: What was your biggest challenge? The Biggest Mountain to climb?

Vera: It was a mountain to climb. All steps were so challenging. Finding the structure, the right narration, putting all these complex shots together. It’s a comic book opera with so much emotion. A challenge was how to play that character, getting in her mind. It is based on my life, but I wanted that this character to, also, be different. So, it was tough to dive into her as a character. It was challenging and intense. I love even more acting today. Acting can be so much fun.

Q: What is your goal with this film, any messages?

Vera: I hope my film It talks a lot, about many issues. I hope people see what they want to see in it. You are assaulted with loads of images in this film, you almost must surrender to it. I tried not to overload but at the same time I wanted you to just watch without thinking. Watch it and surrender to it. Enjoy the ride and see where it drives you. It’s about “Joseph Campbell’s” hero journey. Maybe they see themselves it’s about growing up and finding yourself. Be the authentic self. The trans experience is beyond a conservative talk. Allow yourself to be yourself. I hope people can relate to what they watch. It’s about being honest with yourself and the others.