Writer Alejandra Ortiz loves films. That is why she was the special guest in Films of My Life. In it, in conversation with Gerlinda Heywegen, she presented her work and life through her favourite film clips. English spoken.

Ortiz, who as a trans woman fled her native Mexico for fear of violence and transphobia, encountered a stalled refugee system in the Netherlands. She writes about it in her book De waarheid zal me bevrijden (2022).

The film excerpts Alejandra showed cover a lot: machismo in (Mexican) films, the position of women and especially trans women in films and the happiness you can find when watching films. Pedro Almodovar, for instance, is one of the directors she holds in high regard. Surprise snippets were also featured.

Sure to pass were Doctor Zhivago (David Lean, 1965), Les Uns et les Autres (Claude Lelouch, 1981, the Mexican film El lugar sin limítes (Arturo Ripstein, 1978, also known as Hell Without Limits), Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Pedro Almodóvar, 1988) and the French-Mexican musical crime film Emilia Pérez (Jacques Audiard, 2024). Alejandra promised to narrate as honestly and openly as she does in her book.

Alejandra Ortiz works in The Netherlands she toward a better life for trans persons, and especially for trans persons of colour -- with or without papers. She has established a language centre, organized symposiums and co-authored research reports, all to improve the position of trans refugees. She received the 2023 Winq Community Award for her work and the Harper's Bazaar Woman of the Year Award 2024, Ortiz wrote the autobiographical De waarheid zal me bevrijden (The Truth Will Free Me, 2022) about her youth, her life as a transgender woman, her quest for a safe place to be herself, and her asylum application process in The Netherlands. It was selected as one of ten Dutch rainbow-books, and was nominated for the Opzij Literatuurprijs 2023.

Gerlinda Heywegen is a programmer, writer, organizer, lecturer and podcaster, mainly on the subject of film and often in combination with literature. She programs for Film by the Sea in Vlissingen and the Writers Unlimited festival. She founded Koning Film, a collective of film experts on various subjects, from music to philosophy. Heywegen's books include The Other Director, about eight directors of photography; she collaborated with Frans Westra on Passie voor Cinema (Passion for Cinema), which highlights four decades of film screenings in the Netherlands; and she edited and wrote for the film magazine Skrien. Currently, she writes regularly for the websites of the Netherlands Society of Cinematographers and Elders Literair.

Festival tip: Alejandra Ortiz, together with Shantie Singh, made Trans, Writing, Joy, one of the Saturday Night Unlimited programmes on Saturday night 25 January 2025. In it, Alejandra spoke with trans authors Alvina Chamberland and Alara Adilow, and they recited from their own work. Towards the end, spoken word artist Zaïre Krieger, trans man and performer Padri Roa Johansen and DJ Shari Jae took over and everyone is welcome to swing and dance.

Films of My Life: Alejandra Ortiz presents her favorite film fragments was curated for Writers Unlimited Festival 2025 by Gerlinda Heywegen.