TALES OF THE WARIA RETURNS TO SAN FRANCISCO

TRANS:THRIVE and A&PI Wellness Center are pleased to co-present "Tales of the Waria" during its return to San Francisco during FRAMELINE35 on Saturday, June 18. What is life like for the transgender community in the world's largest Muslim country, Indonesia? In this eye-opening documentary, shot in the scenic coastal region of South Sulawesi, we follow the lives of four waria (from the words wanita, meaning woman, and pria, meaning man): female in outward appearance, but actually biological men who believe they were born with a woman's soul, and who are not interested in a sex change because of Islam's teachings.

Before Islam came to South Sulawesi in the 17th century, it is said that the waria's historical role was to care for the king. Despite their past prestige, the waria today are not as respected when it comes to love and marriage. Beauty salon worker Ria is one of many country boys who, ostracized in their villages for dressing as women, arrived in the city of Makassar to find many others like herself: biological men who identify as women but abide by the dictates of Islam not to undergo sex-change surgery (Botox, however, is fine). This intimate and engaging documentary follows four waria as they negotiate complicated personal lives in unexpected configurations. Can one be pals with the knowing wife of her policeman lover? With the temptation of a lucrative affair with a Westerner, how will a work stint in Bali turn out?

Tales of past and future heartbreak haunt them, but they all pursue love and happiness in the waria spirit. Tiara, who instructs contestants in catwalking at a waria supermodel pageant, sums it up: "God created me and my fellow warias to make this world more beautiful."