Laerte-se

This 2017 Brazilian documentary, co-directed by Eliane Brum and Lygia Barbosa, follows the life of the cartoonist Laerte Coutinho. One of Brazil's best-known comic artists, who transitioned in her sixties, Laerte conjugates her body in the feminine across the film and picks apart concepts and prejudices. What she is after is not an identity but un-identities. The film's interesting structure rests on the idea of Laerte sending her comic-strip characters out to meet reality: the figures on paper are the vanguard of the experiment on the street. Brum enters the frame herself and turns the interview into an encounter. The documentary's strength is refusing to present trans experience as a condition requiring explanation; Laerte is not trying to prove anything. Who it's for: viewers interested in trans narratives, comics culture and Brazilian documentary. Who it's not for: anyone wanting a straightforward biography, or who will find an interview-led structure wearing.