dude

Luis Enrique Caicedo Valero
Documentary Filmmaker

"Dude looks like a lady"

Award Winner Documentary
First Prize Professional Documentary North East Region Video Festival

The story behind this documentary is somehow interesting. When I moved to Ithaca, NY in 1995 and I saw David/Lisa for the first time I thought to myself, "Who is this guy?". I stood by in awe and watched him pick up some cans, get on his bike and then keep going. The song "Dude looks like a lady" from Aerosmith, was loudly playing on his tape recorder and I thought, "This cannot be true". I noticed how everyone looked at him, without hiding their disgust for his appearance. I have to admit that I was quite shocked by the scene as well; especially in those days when I first moved into the United States with all my Latin "chauvinism". It was hard for me to see David/Lisa without being critical of his behavior. After a couple years and taking a several classes related to prejudice and discrimination I learned to accept this person as part of my community. I even started to see a whole different set of values and the importance David/Lisa's presence held in our community. I then started questioning and asking how others perceive him and the answer was always the same... disgust. In those days I started working for the Public Access Television Center and I had access to all sorts of equipment, so I've decided to make a documentary about David/Lisa. I approached him one day with the idea about the documentary, and he was very nice and very open to the project. Next day my friend Juan and I went to the Red Cross shelter to meet him and start videotaping. We shoot all day long, following David/Lisa everywhere in town. I spent the next day editing this project at the end I was thinking how should I call this project?... voila !!! "Dude looks like lady"
I broadcasted the show the following week, the response was alarming; people started calling the TV station asking, "Who did the documentary? and making comments such: how nice was it, how well done it was, someone said not know anything about this guy, or he seems to be a nice guy. One lady even told me, that next day she will look for David/Lisa and would start a friendship with him/her. A couple weeks later I saw David/Lisa on the streets and told me how grateful he/she was with the documentary because it has change his/her life; people have started to become his/her friend.

We all can make a difference in our society!!

Home Page

Questions or Comments
E-mail
Enrique Caicedo