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MIKAELA MACKENZIE \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n
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Ande Brown is set to premiere his latest short film \u201cHalf Naked\u201d at the Gimli International Film Festival.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are ideas that float around, and they\u2019ll find a head to go into, and if you reject it, they\u2019ll find another one. There\u2019s all kinds of inspiration out there, but you have to be open to it,\u201d says Brown, whose latest short film, Half-Naked, premi\u00e8res Saturday at the Gimli International Film Festival.<\/p>\n
The 64-year-old Brown \u2014 who became a Canadian citizen in 2009 and whose partner grew up in Transcona \u2014 was always highly receptive to inspiration, but it took a series of major life changes for him to broadcast his artistic responses.<\/p>\n
In 2018, he moved to Manitoba so his partner could be closer to her ailing mother, effectively retiring from a decades-long career in environmental science and spatial analytics.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, he began coming to terms with his gender identity: at 58, Brown began a regimen of testosterone injections and the emotional journey of transition. Better late than never, Brown\u2019s supportive partner told him.<\/p>\n
With a renewed perspective on life and emboldened by a community of artists in Winnipeg, Brown spent more time pursuing rejuvenating acts of creativity.<\/p>\n
At a storytelling workshop organized by Doug Darling of Tripwire Media, Brown was encouraged to write a story to read out loud.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really hadn\u2019t talked about my transition to anyone \u2014 just a few friends, neighbours and family members,\u201d Brown recalls. \u201cI had never really said anything aloud to total strangers.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn the second day, when we were supposed to read our stories, I said, \u2018Doug. I\u2019m so nervous. I feel sick.\u2019 He said, \u2018You can go last, you can do it, you can not do it \u2014 whatever works,\u2019 but he reminded the class it was a safe environment. So I told my story.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t It was about the first time Brown returned home to Arizona to visit his mother after beginning his transition, a shift that coincided with the emergence of a deeper voice.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I called her on the phone, she didn\u2019t recognize me and hung up. I called back and she kept hanging up. Finally, I texted my sister and said, \u2018Can you tell mom to answer the phone?\u2019 and she said, \u2018She\u2019s not answering because she says there\u2019s a man on the line.\u2019 I thought, \u2018Hmm. That\u2019s interesting.\u201d<\/p>\n Encouraged by the feedback from his workshop peers, Brown continued to explore filmmaking. In 2024, he submitted a roughly cut, self-produced short film depicting his daily regimen of gender-affirming injections to Reel Pride, Canada\u2019s oldest LGBTTQ+ film festival. Screening at the Gas Station Arts Centre, Better Late Than Never was recognized by the jury \u2014 which included this reporter \u2014 as the best Manitoban short in competition.<\/p>\n \u2022 \u2022 \u2022<\/p>\n With his first shorts under his belt, last summer, Brown went to the Gimli International Film Festival to make a case for his biggest project yet: a short film starring professional actors with a unionized crew.<\/p>\n \u201cMy partner writes all my jokes so she told me to say that while the film\u2019s called Half-Naked, let me be clear \u2014 it\u2019s the top half,\u201d says Brown, who pitched his project to a panel of filmmaking professionals in GIFF\u2019s annual $15,000 RBC Emerging Filmmaker Pitch Competition. \u201cThen I paused and said, \u2018Though there could be a sequel.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Brown was declared the winner, earning production funds from the bank, plus support from the Winnipeg Film Group, the National Screen Institute, Manitoba Film and Music, and Film Training Manitoba.<\/p>\n Brown\u2019s pitch was inspired by his own life as a trans person living in the suburbs, when taking a shirtless walk can be an invitation for unwanted attention, intense anxiety, and body and gender dysmorphia.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t AMILIA FEHR PHOTO<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Bells Larsen (left, with Mary Galloway) stars in Half-Naked.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first time I went shirtless in public, I was very nervous. I thought people were staring at me. I thought people were going to do something to me,\u201d says Brown, who recalls with pain the memory of Sam Nordquist, a trans man who was kidnapped, tortured and killed in Hopewell, N.Y., in 2025. \u201cI hate that we have to think about these things.\u201d<\/p>\n Brown wanted to make a film that helped trans people feel less alone in their experiences while also destigmatizing trans bodies in film.<\/p>\n \u201cI think people just need to get used to seeing trans people in trans bodies. We\u2019re just living our lives, not hurting anybody, not doing a thing,\u201d says Brown.<\/p>\n Unlike his earlier shorts, Brown now had the budget and the wherewithal to hire an onscreen avatar for himself. Rather than choosing someone in the same age bracket, the filmmaker went younger, casting a 28-year-old Canadian songwriter named Bells Larsen for the leading role.<\/p>\n Brown saw Larsen perform in Winnipeg last year; his music, specifically his last album, Blurring Time, proved profound for Brown, who felt as though Larsen was describing his own experiences of transition and pride through his introspective lyrics.<\/p>\n On Blurring Time, released in 2025, Larsen melds his \u201chigh\u201d voice with his \u201clow\u201d one, harmonizing with his pre-transition self.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a really brave thing to do to put yourself out there and talk about who you are from the deepest points of view,\u201d says Brown of Larsen, who performed earlier this month at the Winnipeg Folk Festival. \u201cI just had so much respect for him, and I thought, \u2018If I could pick anybody in the world to play me as a younger person \u2014 my gosh, there couldn\u2019t be a better choice than him.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t When Larsen agreed to act in Brown\u2019s film, the filmmaker says, \u201cI just hung up the phone and started crying. I was just overwhelmed that someone would be that kind to me, who has no idea who I am \u2014 I\u2019m not on IMDb. I think the world of him and what he\u2019s doing.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t AMILIA FEHR PHOTO<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Director Ande Brown on set.<\/p>\n As Brown gears up for audiences to see his latest film, the filmmaker says the work\u2019s merit is defined by the freedom he was granted to try.<\/p>\n \u201cI know so many people who get afraid: What if I don\u2019t do well? If I\u2019m not going to be the best, why should I do it? I\u2019ve come to realize that I don\u2019t care,\u201d Brown says with a laugh. \u201cThat\u2019s the only good thing about getting older. Make fun of me, whatever. I don\u2019t care. I\u2019m going to keep trying. I want to learn, I want to be a student.\u201d<\/p>\n Ande Brown wants to take off his shirt.<\/p>\n ben.waldman@winnipegfreepress.com<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Ben Waldman Ben Waldman is a National Newspaper Award-nominated reporter on the Arts & Life desk at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg, Ben completed three internships with the Free Press while earning his degree at Ryerson University\u2019s (now Toronto Metropolitan University\u2019s) School of Journalism before joining the newsroom full-time in 2019. Read more about Ben<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Ben produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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