Warning: This article contains discussion of Transphobia and Suicide.
The director of a documentary about Miriam Rivera has responded after allegations she made her brother ‘re-enact’ the moment he found his transgender sister’s dead body.
Rivera died in 2019, with her death being ruled a suicide.
This was questioned by her husband and her brother, who believe she was murdered.
Rivera appeared on a reality show in 2004, in which the fact she was transgender was disgustingly used as a ‘twist’ in a dating show.
The show, titled There's Something About Miriam, involved six men competing for her affection only for it be ‘revealed’ to them that she was transgender.
The British Medical Journal wrote of the show: “The premise was not a celebration of transgender people’s lives. It was designed to elicit horror from the winning contestant, discovering that his dream date had a penis”
This led to a recent documentary, titled Miriam: Death of A Reality Star.
The documentary has received critical praise, with director Luned Tonderai earning a place in this year’s BAFTA breakthrough cohort.
Despite this, a review in The Guardian called the series ‘as grubby as the cruel show that ruined her life’.
Miriam Rivera (Channel 4)
Within this, reviewer Rachel Aroesti says: “This documentary is willing to entertain numerous possibilities, but doesn’t present any new evidence about Rivera’s death. It does, however, ask her brother to re-enact the moment he found her body.
“We conclude with the camera trained on her father, as he weeps over the responsibility he feels for his child’s death.”
In our exclusive interview with Luned Tonderai, we asked about the idea that she made Miriam’s brother ‘re-enact’ the moment he found her body.
She said: “First of all, we wouldn't ask somebody to reenact anything. I think that came as an observational filming scene.
“We were going back to the family home, and he took us to the location where Miriam passed. I think for him, he felt that was important, he believes that she was murdered.
“So for him, he needed us to see where this had happened, and why he didn't believe that she would been able to do that herself.
“So that for him was the motivation of taking us there, and I understood that, and I understood why that was important to him and for him, that was.
Her brother crouched in the alleyway where he found her body (Channel 4)
“For him in Miriam's death, he still feels that he doesn't have all the answers, and he still feels that there is somebody accountable, and he's desperate for somebody to investigate that further.”
The director also went on to say she was drawn to Miriam’s story as she felt there has only been ‘one kind of narrative’, before adding: “I thought a lot of that narrative had been quite unfair, and I thought that it was time to sort of set the record straight a bit”.
The documentary, though controversial, earned her a place on this year’s UK BAFTA Breakthrough cohort, which signals the UK’s hottest new talents in Film and TV.
She said of her inclusion: “It feels ‘amazing’. If you’d asked me two years ago whether I'd imagined that I'd be part of that, I would have said, ‘Oh, no, I don't think so’, but it's a huge honour.
Luned Tonderai (left) is a BAFTA Breakthrough star (Tristan Fewings via Getty Images)
“And I think it's just come at the right time for me as well, in terms of my work and my career. And, yes, fantastic.”
Interview by Jess Pattison.
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