My Bday...! Support a trans-centered short film!

Dear friends and family,

this Thursday, June 12th, is my birthday – it's Lovers’ Day in Brazil – and I honestly can’t ever imagine a more fitting day for me ☺️!

That’s the spirit I want to nourish: true connection and kinship are, to me the main reasons worth existing for.

I’m happy to see some of you in person on Thursday at the park, in NYC (hmu if you’d like to come and need the link!).

️️‍⚧️ Whether we’re celebrating together or not, instead of flowers or a gift, I’d love to invite you this year to support my first short film, which is currently in pre-production.

After 20 years of working as an actor in front of the camera – from internationally renowned cinema productions to small, experimental no-budget films by emerging directors – I’m excited to finally be shifting behind the camera to bring my own visions to life.

It’s been a long-held dream of mine to archive stories and create artistic spaces that hold and honor the legacies of so many known and unknown people – activists, siblings, trans community leaders – celebrating the richness, creativity, abundance, and power of trans existence in a world that tries every day to tell us otherwise.

THE SEEDS YOU PLANTED is a hybrid documentary-essay film about the legacy of Marsha P. Johnson.

It's the summer of 2025 in New York City, with the city dressed in rainbow colors for pride month. Through intimate one-on-one encounters we get to know five trans leaders and activists based in New York, and their visions, dreams, and futures they’re building. What moves them, besides survival? What are the sources for their resilience? What dreams do they nurture in community?

As these conversations unfold, the camera takes us on a journey through the hot summer streets, searching for what remains of the Stonewall revolution — and where the spark of Marsha’s legacy, and that of her comrades, is being reignited in the spirit of collective liberation.

Woven through the film like a quiet stream runs a third thread: a trans community gathering in Marsha P. Johnson Park. What begins as a picnic and shared space of trans rest and community gradually deepens — growing into a collective ritual by the river, connecting to the waters, where Marsha’s dead body was pulled from Hudson River on July 6th 1992, and where we return to honor her legacy, beauty and joy on the same day 33 years later.

The film seeks to add stories of resilience, abundance, softness, and dreaming to the images we so rarely see — beyond the ever-repeating narratives of victimhood, fetishization, death and trans suffering so often shaped by cis filmmakers and for the cis gaze.

This is a no-budget passion project by people who believe deeply in its necessity, beauty, and power.

And I would love to at least be able to offer my protagonists safe transportation and a minimal but solid structure of care.

We’re also preparing a community event at the beginning of July at Marsha P. Johnson Park – a shared picnic and collective trans ritual to honor Marsha on the day of her passing.

We’ll need to provide food, drinks, and materials for the ritual: flowers, candles, and a space for remembrance and connection.

If we’re able to raise more than the essentials, it will go directly into more care for participants, better nourishment/catering, and transportation for crew members with delicate equipment.

Every contribution, no matter the size, makes a big difference and is deeply appreciated.

If you’re based in NYC and would like to support the project with your time, or by bringing something delicious to the picnic, please reach out to me directly.

Everyone who contributes will receive updates on the process, and your name will appear in the film credits.

Eternally thankful for you seeing our worth – and for believing in me as an artist, and in the values of our community ️‍⚧️️‍⚧️️‍⚧️️‍⚧️

I’ll always remember you as a sibling or ally who stood with me for my first film.

See you soon –

X Jules*

…in a cinema near you (: