Dr XYZ | Vivid Projects

A Medical Drag Transthology

Magnified open mouth with 70s pencil moustache, a doctors coat and stethescope are visible, with a background of black and white grid lines. — A still from the film

Brought to you by XYZ Projects (CIC), Dr XYZ is a satirical take on the healthcare service announcements of the 1960s and 70s. The purpose of the project is to act as a training film for the current NHS England staff, equipping them to give trans and non-binary patients the level of gender-affirming care they need and deserve.

XYZ Projects is a newly established trans+ film collective based in Birmingham, concerned with community healthcare archiving and collaborative filmmaking. El Jones (they/them) independent filmmaker/community archive facilitator, and Dr. Raviv Piccus (he/they) NHS doctor/researcher are co-directors of the collective. Working alongside them is Producer: Yasmyn Nettle (they/them), Collective Care Lead: Reuben Liebeskind (they/he), BTS Photographer: TQ Archive (they/them) and on music they have Transistrrr (she/her) and Lai Fransisco (they/she).

The journey of Dr XYZ kicked off with a community call out, inviting trans and non-binary individuals to share first hand accounts of their experiences accessing gender-affirming healthcare in the UK. This progressed into a series of community script writing workshops prior to filming, shaping the narrative with input from the people who’s experiences the film will highlight.

Members of the XYZ Productions Collective sitting around a table at the community script writing workshop, looking at scripts in front of them. — Community script writing workshop

The film follows first hand accounts from the trans/non-binary community through, as they describe it, “the labyrinth of accessing gender affirming healthcare in the uk”, re-enacting these experiences to “guide us through effective and affirming healthcare practices in communication, social transitioning, bridging prescriptions and shared-care agreements”.

Filming took place across multiple locations, including at Vivid Projects HQ (as part of the Vivid Lab Programme), which was briefly transformed into a set by the collective, including a retro NHS doctors surgery complete with waiting room chairs, curly corded receptionist telephone and a news anchor set, as pictured below.

The film was produced as part of the NHS Untold Stories Initiative, with some funding received from the British Film Institute (BFI) and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).

Watch Dr XYZ online now on the XYZ Projects Website.

Stay up to date by following the XYZ Projects page on social media.