Interview: Sasha Aickin

What drew you to the material? I've always enjoyed and respected the performers at Trannyshack, but it wasn't until last summer that I thought about making a film about them. Around this time last year, I was reflecting on the fact that many of the documentaries I'd really enjoyed recently (like Spellbound and Bang the Machine) were about competitions, and I realized that the competitive aspect both gave the films a narrative structure and put the films' subjects under stress that made their true character shine through.

The Miss Trannyshack pageant seemed an obvious choice, partly because there were sure to be some amazing characters, and partly because I wanted to see if I could get behind some of the surface shock value of the performance and find out what's going on behind it.

One of the things I really like about this film is that it is about a competition; even though it's a funhouse parody of a beauty pageant, the queens really did want to win. At the same time, though, the audience gets to see what goes on behind the flashy surface, and they get to understand why the queens spend literally thousands of dollars to give a one-time performance to the audience. In the end, this is a story about competition, and it's a story about art.

What's your favorite moment in your film? Now that's a minefield of a question. There are so many little moments that I love that it's hard to pick one; it's like picking a favorite child. Plus, if I told you I really liked one of the queens' performances better than the rest, I'd have to deal with some pretty angry queens.

We've always wanted to go to Trannyshack, but we're afraid we're too lame/straight/ugly. Should we just go anyway? That's funny, because Trannyshack is all about taking rules and breaking them, even the rules of the counterculture itself, so you should let your lame/straight/ugly flag fly high.

On the subject of rules, one part of my film talks briefly about the phenomenon of faux queens, biologically female drag queens, who are very popular at Trannyshack. Faux queens test the limits of what drag is, but I think we need even more subersive types of drag, so I think you should start a new lame/straight/ugly drag sub-genre.

What is the best film party you've been to? I just got back from the Frameline opening party, and I have to say that it beat the rest hands down.

Name: Sasha Aickin

Introduce yourself in one sentence Hi, my name is Sasha, and I'll be server for this evening.

Age and Occupation: 28. Filmmaker/Trannychaser

Home Town: Tempe, AZ. Much love for my homies still locked down in the 'Zone.

What are you working on next? First off, I'm going to get some sleep; finishing this film has been a grueling (although incredibly rewarding) experience.

Then, I'm going to go to Hawaii with my cousin to interview my grandfather about his life and our family. I'm not sure what kind of film, if any, will emerge from the shoot, but both my cousin and I are interested in putting together a piece that will be about how families tell multiple versions of the same story to each other. I think he and I got very different narratives about events in our family history, and we want to explore that.

Favorite website: Is it OK to say Bloglines, or is that cheating since it adds up all the other websites?

Favorite local business: There are many, but I have to put a plug in for my friend Karen's wonderful clothing boutique MILA.

What I'm currently reading: I'm exhausted from finishing the film, so I haven't been reading much. When I get a spare moment, though, I try to catch up on my stack of back issues of the Believer, even though secretly I think I'm not cool enough to read it.

Best Deal in San Francisco: Five Dollars for Shrimp Fried Rice at Tu Lan. My friends all refer to it as "CFR", short for "Crack Fried Rice", because it is so addictive that we are certain that it has crack added in.

Favorite mode of transportation: Subway.

Favorite local hangout: El Rio on Salsa Sundays. Forget Disneyland, El Rio is truly the happiest place on earth.

SF has the BEST: Burritos.

You've never lived in SF until: You try to throw a BBQ on July 4th and end up bundled in polar fleece.

Now that Gavin Newsom is single, who are you going to set him up with? All I'm saying is that I'm single too, and he has my cell number.

You can tell someone is a local here IF: They bring layers.

SF would be soooo much better if only: You could get food at 2 AM.

Best Restaurant: Please don't make me choose.

Best movie scene filmed in or about SF: The scene from the mind-blowing doc "Metallica: Some Kind of Monster" where Dave Mustaine, guitarist for Megadeth and former Metallica member, confronts Lars Ulrich. Mustaine tells Ulrich how he has always felt like a failure since he was kicked out of Metallica even though he has gone on to sell literally millions of records. It's a heartbreaking scene about the illusory nature of artistic success.

Place you always tell visitors to check out: The top of Dolores Park. It's my favorite view of the City.

You have two hours and $15 bucks to kill in SF, what are you going to do? Get some bread and really good cheese at the Ferry Building and stroll to Aquatic Park with a friend while eating it.

I want all the SFists out there to know: That I've started a campaign to rename my neighborhood and make it the hip new spot. From now on, the area between Cesar Chavez, Church, Mission, and 30th Street should be known as the SoCeCha (South of Cesar Chavez). Please change your maps accordingly.

Tell us a San Francisco Story: So I needed some background music for this film, and I found a band on the web that had a track that I really liked. I wrote the guy out of the blue to see if I could license his song for the film, and it turned out that he was both local and excited to have his music used in a film. We discussed details, I told him what the film was about, and we agreed that he would come to my house at noon on a Saturday to sign the contracts.

He arrived promptly and turned out to be a really sweet straight guy from Daly City. We made small talk for a while while I printed out contracts, and about half an hour in he said, "you know, I assumed since your name was Sasha that you were a drag queen, too. I kind of expected you to answer the door wearing a dress." I told him that no, I wasn't a drag queen, and even the drag queens didn't wear dresses at noon on Saturday. I think, though, that San Francisco might be the only place where people are shocked when you answer the door not wearing a dress.