Documentary captures journalist’s gender transition while embedded with Taliban

A new documentary now available on Amazon Prime and AppleTV offers an in-depth look at the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. “Transition” follows Australian filmmaker Jordan Bryon as he undergoes a gender transition while embedded with a Taliban unit. Bryon and co-director Monica Villamizar spoke with Amna Nawaz about this turning point in Afghanistan.
Geoff Bennett:
A new documentary now available on Amazon Prime and Apple TV offers a unique look at the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.
The film “Transition” follows queer Australian filmmaker Jordan Bryon as he embeds with a Taliban unit he is documenting for The New York Times. But Bryon is undergoing his own transformation as a transgender Man and has to keep his identity a secret.
Bryon and co-director Monica Villamizar spoke to Amna Nawaz earlier this week about this turning point in Afghanistan and the risks of navigating a relationship with the Taliban.
Amna Nawaz:
Jordan Bryon and Monica Villamizar, thank you so much for joining us here on “NewsHour.” Pleasure to speak with you both.
Monica Villamizar, Co-Director, “Transition”: Thanks for having us.
Amna Nawaz:
Jordan, I’m going to start with you, because, at the beginning of this film, you had already been living in Afghanistan for a number of years, about five years, working as a filmmaker for The New York Times.
You begin documenting one group of Taliban fighters after the Taliban retake control of the country. And, at the same time, you are in the process of your own gender transition. At what point do you decide, I need to start turning the cameras the other way and start telling my own story as part of this?
Jordan Bryon, Subject and Co-Director, “Transition”: I started the medical transition like five months before the Taliban took over.
And, objectively, as a filmmaker, I was thinking it could be interesting to document this process in a place like Afghanistan and because I wanted to use my story to show the version of Afghanistan that I had experienced, which was a really beautiful, loving, welcoming Afghanistan.
Amna Nawaz:
And, Monica, you have covered conflict around the world before this project. How did you come to collaborate with Jordan on this?
Monica Villamizar:
I had heard about him before as this Australian D.P., cinematographer who had really, really intimate access to the Taliban.
So, in my imagination, I was already wondering, who is this guy and how did he get such intimate access? And that’s when we met. And Jordan said, “Come here, but I’m not sure I want to do a film about myself.”
And I convinced him, because I really think it takes enormous courage to do something so intimate about your own process, but I really thought his story was extraordinary.
Amna Nawaz:
Jordan, there’s one scene in particular, though, which speaks to sort of the everyday navigation that you had to kind of Manage, when you’re deciding whether to go through the men’s security line or the women’s security line at the airport.
Here’s a quick clip of that moment.
Jordan Bryon:
Should I go through the men’s or the women’s security check?
Man:
Women.
Jordan Bryon:
Why?
Man:
Because they’re — if you wear a mask and close your face, they will know you’re from me, because they know me, that I am with you always.
Jordan Bryon:
I’m so sick of being stressed about this.
Man (through interpreter):
What’s this?
Jordan Bryon (through interpreter):
A microphone.
Man (through interpreter):
Take it off.
Jordan Bryon (through interpreter):
I’m a journalist.
Man (through interpreter):
Take if off and show me.
Amna Nawaz:
Jordan, in a country like Afghanistan, especially at that particular time, how difficult were those kinds of choices for you to navigate?
Jordan Bryon:
It was terrifying, honestly, because there’s no precedent for something like this. To my knowledge, there’s not been another transgender person, Afghan or foreign, who was pre-surgery, but living amongst the Taliban as their desired or their felt gender, rather than their assigned-at-birth gender.
I mean, for Teddy as an Afghan, my Afghan cinematographer, colleague, the stakes for him were so much higher. The trauma of having to bond with these Taliban fighters that we were filming with was far more difficult for him because they had destroyed his country.
So, as much as I was worried for myself, I was always — also really worried for Teddy the whole time. What would they have done if they’d found out? I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t want to know.
Amna Nawaz:
And, Monica, to broaden this out, we should point out Jordan was allowed to embed with these Taliban fighters because they believed he was male. You were not allowed to embed with them because you are a woMan.
But, at the same time, this is a moment in Afghanistan’s history when women and girls are being banned from public increasingly. What was that like for you as a storyteller?
Monica Villamizar:
I remember, Amna, when I was there, I had to be locked up in a hotel, not leaving obviously, because I was so scared to be alone. And you can’t really leave or go as a woMan in these places without a male companion.
And Jordan and the crew went on a car ride that took about eight hours with multiple checkpoints. And I could not go through any of those checkpoints. They would just not allow a woMan in the car. It was a very rural, remote area. And that was really hard, just to know that I had no access, and I wished I could be there with them, and I couldn’t.
Amna Nawaz:
It’s a very personal film.
Jordan, it is your story. But it’s also the story of this country transitioning from what it was to what it is today. There is a moment when you struggled in a way that a lot of journalists did with the idea of when and how to leave. Here’s that moment.
Jordan Bryon:
So Many foreigners have built — me included, we have built our careers, we have built our bank accounts, we have built our networks, we have built our status and our reputation off the misery of Afghanistan.
For me, the least I can (Expletive deleted) do is stick it out when the going gets tough and give back.
Amna Nawaz:
Jordan, you did eventually have to leave. I just wonder how you reflect on that decision now.
Jordan Bryon:
It was a big decision. I lived in Afghanistan for six-and-a-half years, and it’s the most significant relationship I have ever had. It is an incredible place.
And, as a filmmaker, it’s a gift. But when Mon convinced me to make the film, I knew then that the film would mean that I would have to cut my ties with Afghanistan, most likely for the foreseeable future at least. And I’m hoping that the film adds value to the world and adds conversations to people that make it worth having to end that relationship for a while.
Amna Nawaz:
Monica, what do you want people to take away from this film?
Monica Villamizar:
For me personally, I just admire what reporters in war zones do.
I want people to take away from it that they watch it and they know what a hard sacrifice on a personal level it is to go to these war zones and report, and how important it is that we keep on doing this, because there are Many urgent things happening in the world, in Ukraine, in Gaza, in Many places.
And the job that we do is important. And we all sacrifice parts of our personal lives in order to do this. And I think it’s almost like a love letter to journalism, because I think it’s a profession that is so worth it.
Amna Nawaz:
Monica Villamizar and Jordan Bryon, thank you so very much for joining us. Pleasure to speak with you.