Celebrating its ten-year anniversary this year, Tangerine is a film that made history for trans actors in relation to representation on screen. It also highlighted the lives of members of the trans community in Hollywood.

Tangerine (2015) was written by Chris Bergoch and Sean Baker, who was also the film’s director. Set on Christmas Eve, it tells the story of Sin-Dee Rella (Kitana Kiki Rodriguez), a transgender sex worker who, having just gotten out of prison, discovers that her boyfriend and pimp, Chester (James Ransone), has been cheating on her with a cisgender woman. She angrily seeks out the girl, another sex worker called Dinah (Mickey O’Hagan), and drags her around Los Angeles on her quest to find Chester.

It may be a gritty topic but the film has humour and a wonderful charm to it. Its particular humour apparently stems from a conversation that Sean Baker had with actors Kitana Kiki Rodriguez and Mya Taylor. Taylor said, “When Sean told me he was making this movie, I told him that I wanted it to be real and funny. I wanted people to see L.A. for what it really is. It’s not all glamour, beautiful Beverly Hills and Westwood.”

Christmas was chosen as the setting as Chris Bergoch wanted the film to be in the same realm as classic Christmas stories like L.A. Confidential (1997) and Die Hard (1988). Sean Baker ended up agreeing, “I sat on it and thought about it and came to the conclusion that this had to take place on Christmas.

“Contextually and subtextually, we associate Christmas with family. Many trans women of colour come from poverty and are forced to live on the streets. Their families have shunned them and their remaining family are the friends they’ve come to rely on.”

Sin-Dee’s family comes in the form of best friend Alexandra (Mya Taylor), who is also a transgender sex worker. She is the one who informs her of Chester’s infidelity and spends the majority of the film trying to stay out of her friend’s mess and to get people to come to her upcoming show.

The unique look Tangerine has is a result of its small budget. This constraint resulted in filming being done using three iPhone 5 smartphones. This adds to the authenticity of the film, giving it a documentary style and a rough and ready feel.

Baker said this choice had another unforeseen benefit, “It stemmed from a budgetary constraint, but shortly after, we realized it’s the perfect way of shooting the type of film I like to shoot, where we mix professional actors with real life. The iPhone lowered inhibitions because, to the people who were new to filmmaking, it never felt like we were making a film.”

The “people who were new to filmmaking” included the film’s stars, Kitana Kiki Rodriguez and Mya Taylor. Neither had any prior major acting experience before taking on their roles. The writers of Tangerine spent eight months doing research on transgender sex workers, meeting people and getting their stories. Mya Taylor introduced them to a number of people who ended up in the movie or informed the process. Kitana Kiki Rodriguez was closely involved in post-production, offering extensive notes.

A historic first for trans actors, there was a campaign by the film’s distributors, Magnolia, to get the actors nominated for Academy Awards. Baker said of the awards, “The most important thing to me is the recognition of Mya and Kiki. I don’t care about my nomination or any of that stuff, I just want a budget for my next film.

“Mya and Kiki delivered and showed they have talent. This is not a one-off for them. They’re barely playing themselves, no matter what people think. Like every actor in every movie, you have characteristics of one’s own persona in the character, but they’re not playing themselves.

“Kiki is a sweetheart and she’s barely taking part in this campaign. She’s a very shy and introverted person, and Mya is very different from her character too. My hope is that people recognize their great talent so they can parlay this into their dreams and their futures… Now that more trans roles are being written, it’s time to look at trans actors who can play these roles.”

The two main actors of Tangerine were asked what they wanted people to feel after seeing the film. Mya Taylor said, “I want people who are either trans or who can just relate to us, to know that they’re not alone.”

Kitana Kiki Rodriguez said, “I want them to get an understanding of the trans community and a small part of who we are, and a realization of what some people go through. Another thing I hope people get from it is if they see something they don’t like, they’ll change it. It’s a blessing to not only be trans but be trans and a minority and have the opportunity to show people a different side of the world, our life from that point of view!”

Mya Taylor added, “And it’s very important for that area. That area is very… iconic! I’ve seen so many people come and go, fighting for their lives and even a few people get killed. It makes you wonder, ‘Why were they out here doing this?’ I just told you why.”