For only $5, we're sending you a "TRANSGENDER PRIDE" rubber wristband provided to us by our dear friend Louann Chen. Ships worldwide!
(More perk photos to come!)

 

 

 

“Diane from the Moon” was conceived when directors Hanna and Marco first moved from Paris to Los Angeles. They rented a room from Raven who was in the midst of her transition. Hanna and Marco were struck and inspired by Raven’s courage. Witnessing their friend’s day to day ups and downs made them strong allies of the trans community.

Hanna and Marco felt they needed to make a film from a transgender perspective. Raven assisted them with writing, revealing some of the horrors transgender women must deal with, including harassment, violence, and stalkers. “Diane from the Moon” addresses both these external threats and their internal processing in one’s struggle to live an authentic life.

As a film team, we’ve enjoyed getting to know our local trans community in Los Angeles. We wanted to spend time with these women to increase our own understanding and make sure we had their support before making a film centered around a transgender woman. It has been the greatest human experience, filled with laughter, stories, tears and dancing.

 

 

“Diane from the Moon” is a universal story about self acceptance. As trans allies we think it’s vital that a transgender actress plays Diane. Pop culture continually fails to adequately represent trans people. Often, even in stories about trans protagonists, films do not use transgender actors. More often, trans characters are written as the brunt of jokes. Diane is not one of those characters; she is strong, positive, and—most importantly—a multifaceted human being. She is a representation of a beautiful community that needs to be seen and heard.

 

We have found our Diane in the wonderful Mya Taylor. Mya has proven herself in the acclaimed film Tangerine and currently has an oscar nomination campaign underway. She has received praise from Vogue, The Hollywood Reporter and OUT. "Diane from the Moon" will be Mya’s debut in a drama film. “I’m very excited about diving into Diane,” Taylor said. “I think she is what I really need to be playing at this moment. Not only as an actress, but also to show how it is in the transgender community. The script really shows in depth how trans people are actually treated.”

 

Shelbe Chang was born in Taipei, Taiwan and came to the US when she was 12. She was raised in Orange County, California and dreamed of being an actor, director and screen writer. In college she majored in Communication Arts - Film/TV & Photography. Along with her schooling, she did some background acting and extra work for fun and gained experience in front of the camera. After graduating, she worked as an editor at a Chinese TV Network company. 

In 2012, Shelbe became heavily involved with the transgender community. In 2013, she expanded her talents as a contributing writer for Transformation Magazine, she created content for Cinegeoff's blog and she started her own independent production company called, Transflix. In 2014, she began her film making career by writing, producing, directing and acting in her first feature indie film called, LGBT Love Stories. Her goal is to empower transgender voices and raise awareness on transgender lives both in front of the camera and behind the scenes. 
 

Hanna and Marco are two filmmakers from France. The pair met at journalism school in Cannes and started their career in the documentary industry. While they were still in school, they directed Le Populisme au Féminin, a documentary feature addressing the rise of women in far right political parties in contemporary Europe. Le Populisme au Féminin aired nationally on LCP and worldwide on TV5Monde. After the release of the film, Hanna and Marco were invited as speakers at several universities and at the European Commission.

Before moving to LA, Marco also assisted director Joel Soler for his documentary Despot Housewives. Hanna collaborated on a project about the last witnesses of the Shoah. The duo is making their narrative debut with "Diane from the Moon", maintaining the belief that films should not only entertain, but also educate the audience on the issues of our society.

 

Jessica Maroney studied Film and Television at Boston University. After graduating, she moved to LA and worked as a production coordinator for Hallmark.  She left the company to pursue projects, like ‘Diane from the Moon,’ that spark her passion.  Her resume includes producing the web series ‘Social Medium’ (HollyWeb Fest Official Selection), the series ‘Breaking Bread with Brooke Burke,’ and the feature Ruin Me.

Thomi Clinton is a nationally recognized transgender advocate, named by Lambda Legal as one of The Trans100 of 2015. Her primary focus is transgender equality in a wide variety of social justice issues​.​
 

 

Palm Springs is an important part of our story. It is it’s own character. The community of Palm Springs works to strengthen and welcome all people and is an epicenter for LGBTQ acceptance and pride. Palm Springs has been kind to us and countless others and we feel it is apt to represent this in a film.

Palm Springs is also a perfect cinematic location. We have secured awesome locations in including, Thirteen Palms Resort,  Hunters Bar and Palm Springs Liquor. Look at how beautiful they are!

 

 

…is to increase transgender visibility through this film. We are planning to shoot in December and finish post-production by February 2016 so that we can submit the film to Cannes. After that, we want to submit the film to a myriad of prestigious film festivals around the world. We will also be setting up screening opportunities at LGBTQ Centers across the country. Our final goal will be to make "Diane from the Moon" into a feature. Increased visibility leads to increased acceptance and understanding. Diane will be seen and heard.