None of it happened, but all of it is true. You could probably say that about all of Tajo’s films. Whether it’s “A Fish in a Punch Powl,” in which a boy copes with his parents’ separation, or “The Purple Child,” in which a girl learns to distance herself from her depressed mother, or “I am Leo,” which talks about the feelings of a non-binary child facing their first period. Tajo’s films are personal and authentic and often speak to a young audience. Tajo has learned how to do that through 16 years of making short films (they started at the age of eight), studying film and, more recently, the Academy for Children’s Media. Their films are festival favorites and are screened all over the world. Tajo touches both juries and audiences of all ages, as numerous awards show. For a few years now, Tajo has known that they are non-binary and is exploring queer issues in their most recent works. It is important to them to create authentic queer representation, especially for children and youth. In order to develop concepts for this, Tajo received the STEP Author Scholarship from Hessen Film in 2022 and is now getting ready for their debut.