LGBTQ+ documentary ‘Call Me Miles’: The conversation we should be having now

Call Me Miles, a candid South African documentary telling the tale of a transgender teenager, satiates (some of) South African media’s need for LGBTQ+ – and specifically transgender – representation.   

“These are the conversations we should be having now because we are the most progressive African country in terms of LGBTQ+ legislation on paper but in practice, we still face so much social condemnation, backlash, and ignorance,” says Call Me Miles star and North-West University (NWU) student Miles Kean Robinson, A.K.A., MK.

Having released late 2022 on streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime, as well as screening at a multitude of film festivals, Khaki Productions’ first self-funded documentary offers an accessible starting point for generations new and old who wish to understand these topics better.

Call Me Miles won the ‘Best International Feature Documentary Film’ award at Overcome Film Festival and the ‘Best Documentary Film’ award at Chainsaw Film Festival earlier this year.

Broadening viewers’ perspectives

“I want to be who I needed [to be] on my screen as a child,” MK says. Not only do they (MK) deem the documentary a beacon of reassurance for young South Africans that “you can, in fact, be queer in this country” but also an accessible learning opportunity for parents of LGBTQ+ children.  

The story hones in on MK’s trauma and suicide attempts that came with being trapped in a girl’s body. In turn, Call Me Miles gives viewers a shift in perspective, having them experience tumultuous times through the eyes of MK’s mother as she realises that accepting her child is the only way to protect them. 

Western media often depicts LGBTQ+ youth as cutting ties with an unaccepting family. “Unique to Call Me Miles is the way it highlights how essential community is in South Africa and how integral queer people being accepted by their family is to ‘community’,” MK says. “Seeing this process in the context of a ‘normal’, white, middle-class Afrikaans family opens the conversation and makes such topics accessible to more people.” 

After having watched Call Me Miles, Lee van Vuuren says, “The documentary allows older generations to understand a real and modern concept in a language that relates to them. It allowed for an opportunity for education to take place in one of South Africa’s home languages.” 

BTS: How ‘Call Me Miles’ came to be

Wynand Dreyer and Christelle Parrott, the minds behind Khaki Productions, are largely behind the success of this documentary. “The documentary is but an hour-long snippet of my life, but they did the story more justice than I ever could,” MK says. 

The advent of Call Me Miles was when Dreyer saw a powerful Facebook post by MK’s mother regarding a South African singer reportedly disapproving of a primary school’s decision to support a transgender student. Parrott says, “We were deeply moved by her post and felt the need to tell Miles’ story and help address the gross ignorance surrounding transgender people in our society.

“Under normal circumstances, my path would probably not have crossed with Miles’, but I can truly say that I feel enriched by their friendship. Talking and listening to Miles has helped me grow personally into understanding a bit more of their world.”

Shouldering societal shortcomings

Creating this documentary was a “cathartic” experience for MK, who says that they feel a sort of ‘pseudo-fame’ sharing intimate details of their story with strangers. The process is filled with dualities, however, as MK worries about transphobic strangers recognising them in public, recalling a particularly “harrowing” radio interview.  

Such experiences are outliers, MK says, rooted in individuals disrespecting that which they do not understand. Ultimately, they say, “Call Me Miles formed a really big part of my journey in genuinely coming to terms with myself, healing, and knowing that the pain of the past is over.”

The way forward

“Ordinary people are often faced with the most extraordinary circumstances unseen by the wider community,” Parrott says, “and Miles’ story is still not finished – there will be more to explore in the years to come.” 

Van Vuuren says that she would love to see a follow-up about what MK faced after the documentary’s release.

“The bar for queer liberation is … very low,” MK says, “but the first person to wave a pride flag makes it easier for the next person to wave a pride flag. 

“We’re entering an unprecedented era of queer liberation, which unfortunately comes with an unprecedented era of queer rejection. The more liberated we become, the angrier people who resent us will become.  

“However, I have budged this door ever so slightly, which will allow these conversations to happen in more contexts across South Africa.”