Films
TransAwareness Film Fest - 16 fantastic TG films over 5 days! FREE Admission to All!
Monday, May 2, 2005
7:20
pm
A Boy Named Sue
by Julie Wyman
2000, USA
56 min. Color
Julie Wyman's compelling documentary chronicles the transformation of a transsexual named Theo from a woman to a man over the course of six years. The film successfully captures Theo's hysiological and psychological changes during the process, as well as their effects on his lesbian lover and community of close friends. Taking full advantage of the unlimited access she received into an extraordinarily personal process, Wyman carefully composes a moving story about gender identity, relationships, and how even things that seem permanent can change.
8:50
pm
M2F: A Journey in Gender Identity
by Dee MacLachlan
2004, Australia
52 min./120 min., Colour
This inspiring Documentary, produced by two Transsexual women in Melbourne, features the personal stories of many people who live in the opposite gender to that of their biology and some who choose to live in both genders. These stories show how these people have been affected by conflict of biological gender with brain gender. With narration by Jon Faine of ABC Radio 774, this thought provoking programme giving an overview of Transsexualism and Transgenderism is essential viewing for the broader medical and public education. It presents new research, and challenges current medical beliefs and social Transsexual Stereotypes through stories and issues covered by several people in the Transgender Community. Georgina Beyer, the world's first Member of Parliament (from New Zealand) leads an impressive list of "ordinary" Transsexual and Transgendered women interviewed. Stories and issues covered here are presented through Captain Sarah Parry, Julie Peters (geneticist and politician), Human Rights Activist, Ros Houston, and others who give an overview of Transgenderism and Transsexuality from statistics to symptoms and the path to one's Gender Identity.
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Tuesday May , 2005
Matinee
Film (2 - 4 pm)
Normal
by Jane Anderson
2003, USA
108 min., Colour
Ray and Irma are a devoted couple living a normal life in rural Illinois, until Roy decides that his life must change and confesses to Irma that he's a woman trapped in a man's body. Now Roy must face their friends, his coworkers and his own children with the whole new way of life he has planned - and they must face him. What happens to a town, a factory and a loving marriage when confronted with such a transformation is all about being who you are, being in love, and simply being normal. Stars Jessica Lange, Tom Wilkinson, Hayden Panettiere.
7:00
pm
Junk Box Warrior
by Preeti AK Mistry
2002, USA
5 min., B/W
Based on a poem of the same title, JUNK BOX WARRIOR is a brilliant mesh of spoken word and black and white images over a haunting soundtrack. Written by and starring Trans Slam Poet, Marcus Rene Van this film explores the alienation, frustration and fear of not fitting into society's gender binary.
7:15 pm
Meet Egale Canada
Egale Canada is a national organization committed to advancing equality and justice for lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans-identified people, and their families, across Canada. Egale has members in every province and territory of the country.
Egale maintains an active commitment to bringing an intersectional approach to our work, meaning that we recognize the linkages between different forms of oppression, including oppression based on race, sex, class, religion, (dis)ability, age, gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation. Respect for each individual’s full identity requires that our struggle for equality cannot be carried out in isolation from the struggle for equality of all disadvantaged communities.
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT OUR NATIONAL LGBT ADVOCACY ORGANIZATION AND THEIR COMMITMENT TO YOU AND YOUR EQUALITY RIGHTS!
7:45
pm
Through The Skin
A videotape by Elyse Montague
2002
18 minutes
Color/BW, US
In this highly personal experimental autobiography, emerging filmmaker Elyse Montague presents a daring meditation on the experience and trauma of growing up androgynous. Incorporating home movies with vintage health public service announcements, along with her own performance pieces, Elyse jarringly discloses the conflicts between her changing female body with that of her gender and sexual identity. Through a montage of images set against a dissonant soundtrack, she speaks about the misunderstandings and tensions her identity struggle caused her family and the depression that later resulted. In scenes where Elyse binds her breasts, she painfully discloses how her parents sent her to a psychologist who diagnosed her with bi-polar disorder – a diagnosis that later proved to be incorrect. Exploring the complexities and implications of feeling androgynous in a female body, Through the Skin presents more than a personal testimony on the transgender experience, it provokes universal questions on the meaning of gender.
“…a powerful work… With hypnotic intensity, the film
is an assembly of emotionally nuanced landscapes, home movies of Elyse’s
childhood, found footage, and peformative self-portraits…a truly remarkable
piece that summarily transcends its immediate autobiographical concerns…”
Matt Soar & Bill Brand Film & Photography Dept., Hampshire College
"…required viewing for all courses dealing with adolescence, body politics and queer issues. A complicated, layered, experimental meditation on becoming-feminine, the film explodes conventional vocabularies of cinema and of sexuality, breaking through walls of anger and anxiety. A challenging, exciting film from a fresh new artist." Amy Villarejo Cinema Studies, Cornell University
8:15
pm OUT is IN Project
Out is In is an arts-based programs for individuals ages 24 and under, who may identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, two-spirited, questioning or straight. They will give an interactive arts based presentation on making inclusive and safe spaces.
9:30
pm
Just Call Me Kade
by Sam Zolten
2001 USA
26 min. • color
Kade Farlow Collins is a sixteen year old FTM (female to male transgendered person) residing in Tucson, Arizona. Kade’s parents maintain a supportive and nurturing relationship to Kade regarding the many challenges facing their teenage child. However, it hasn’t always been easy.
As Kade’s body began to transform during puberty, Kade became nearly suicidal. Realizing that the issue was more complex than Kade being a tomboy or a lesbian, the family searched for information. Through a local support group and the internet, Kade’s mother found books and other resources pertaining to transgenderism. Kade and his family agreed to have their lives documented in order to bring awareness to the subject.
Just Call me Kade begins during Halloween weekend, 1999. Kade (then "Kate") was fourteen years old and beginning the initial stages of transition. Kate and family share their concerns, and all embark upon the path toward Kate's new identity as "Kade." Just Call Me Kade concludes during St. Patrick's Day weekend, 2001 and Kade, having legally changed his name, is well into testosterone therapy. Friends and family candidly express their feelings about the transition, the changes in Kade and the impact on everyone involved.
*Jury Award
Best Short-Film/Documentary
2003 Copenhagen Gay and Lesbian Film Festival
*Featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show
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Wednesday, May 4, 2005
8:30
pm
Myth of Father
by Paul Hill
2003, USA
28 min., Color
Director Paul Hill’s father, Jodie, is a transsexual woman. When she came out to Paul a few years ago, he began a journey to learn about who his father is. This stunning video documentary contrasts Paul’s relationship to his father with the relationship of his father and her own dad. Candid interviews provide reflections on Jodie’s youth: "He seemed to live the normal life. He was into cars, he was into rock bands, he went into the Army…married…child…" But no one really knew Jodie, as she explains, "No one knew who I was. I trashed relationships with everyone I knew, including my own son."
9:00
pm
Sir: Just a Normal Guy
by Melanie LaRosa
2003, USA
57 min., Color
Screened to acclaim at Gay & Lesbian Film Festivals worldwide and LBGT events across the nation, this candid and courageous portrait of more than 15-months in the female-to-male (FTM) transition of Jay Snider explores both the emotional and physical changes of this profound experience--beginning prior to hormones and concluding after top surgery. Footage shot before and after the surgery captures dramatic physical transitions, while intimate interviews with Jay, his ex-husband, his best friend and his lesbian-identified partner aptly capture the emotional and psychological shifts that occur during the process. With support from those closest to him, Jay’s experience is remarkably positive, though not without conflict. During the course of the film, he renews long-distant ties with his brother, but also faces permanent estrangement from his parents.
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Thursday, May 5, 2005
7:00
pm
Southern Comfort
by Kate Davis
2001, USA
90 min., Colour
SOUTHERN COMFORT is about the life of Robert Eads, a 52-year-old female
to male transsexual who lives in the back hills of Georgia. "A hillbilly
and proud of it," he cuts a striking figure: sharp-tongued, bearded,
tobacco pipe in hand. Robert passes so well as a male that the local Klu
Klux Klan tried to recruit him to become a member. Though his home is nestled
among tranquil hills dotted with hay bales, Robert confronts a world as
hostile to him as if he were an African American in
the ante-bellum South. He was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, then turned
away by more than two dozen doctors who feared that taking on a transgendered
patient might harm their practice. SOUTHERN COMFORT follows the final year
of Robert Eads' life.
Beginning in spring, he falls deeply in love with Lola, a male-to-female. That summer, his mother and father drive ten hours to visit their "lost daughter," a trip they know may be their last. His final dream is to make it to the Southern Comfort Conference in Atlanta, the nation's preeminent transgender gathering. Beating the odds, he addresses a crowd of 500 and takes Lola to "The prom that never was." A rare blend of humor, romance, and tragedy, SOUTHERN COMFORT is the first non-fiction film to intimately tell a trans-to-trans love story, set against a disturbing tale of gender bias as it unfolds before the camera.
* WINNER of the Grand Jury Prize, Documentary Competition, Sundance Film Festival 2001
7:20
pm
Georgie Girl
by Annie Goldson and Peter Wells
2001, New Zealand
70 min., Color/BW
Meet Georgina Beyer, the latest “it” girl of New Zealand politics.
A one-time sex worker of Maori descent turned public official, Georgina
stunned the world in 1999 by becoming the first transgendered person to
hold national office. Born George Beyer, this unlikely politician grew up
on a small Tarankai farm and later became a small-time celebrity on the
cabaret circuit in Auckland. With charisma, humor and charm, Beyer unapologetically
recounts her fascinating life story, shares how
she overcame adversity and discloses the reasons she decided to run for
office in a mostly all white, conservative electorate. Incorporating an
unbelievable montage of colorful archival images dug up from Georgina’s
days as an exotic dancer, theatre and television performer, this absorbing
documentary breaks down stereotypes and promotes greater understanding of
transgendered people.
* Sydney International Film Festival - Audience Award for Best Documentary
* San Francisco International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival - Stu &
Dave's Excellent Documentary Award
* Int'l Festival of Lesbian and Gay Cinema Madrid (LESGAICINEMAD) - Best
Documentary
* Festival International de Filmes de Femmes, Creteil - Audience Award
Unhung
Heroes
by Ilya Pearlman
2002, USA
15 min., Colour
UNHUNG HEROES is a short narrative video about five FTM (female to male) transgendered guys who, after discovering an internet article announcing the availability of penis transplants, plot ways to raise over a million dollars in surgery. Packed with references to films like RESEVOIR DOGS, and to Busby Berkeley and Peter Berlin movies, this action-packed comedy starts with the boys' uneasy experiences of life as a "guy without a dick," then follows their rosy fantasies of life "post-transplant," and the crazy lengths to which they go to obtain surgery money. Fun and colorful, UNHUNG HEROES provides insightful commentary on the tyranny of body parts and mainstream culture's policing of maleness.
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Friday, May 6, 2005
Outlaw
by Alisa Lebow
1994, USA,
26 min., Color
Leslie Feinberg, a self-identified "gender outlaw" who has spent much of her life passing as a man, speaks with passion and intelligence about her experiences in this video manifesto. Raw and confrontational, this videotape asks its audience to examine their assumptions about the "nature" of gender and calls for more sensitivity and awareness of the human rights and the dignity of transgendered people. Feinberg is the author of Stone Butch Blues (Firebrand), an account of a working-class lesbian who passes as a man.
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Saturday, May 7, 2005
Soldier's
Girl
by Frank Pierson
2003, USA
112 min., Colour
The true story of Soldier’s Girl, which takes place in Fort Campbell, KY, tells the heart-wrenching story of the life and tragic death of soldier Barry Winchell. His love for Calpernia Addams, a beautiful transgendered nightclub performer was misunderstood by fellow soldiers and eventually leads to his brutal death. The outstanding performances by Lee Pace and Troy Garity will draw you into this emotional and powerful film.
* Nominated for two Emmys, a GLAAD Media Award, and a Golden Globe Award. The film won a Peabody Award.
Straight
Boy Lessons
by Ray Rea
1999, USA
10 min., B/W
Beginning the transition from female to male, a trans-guy seeks counseling from a non-trans pal. Come along for an illustrated lesson on the do's and don'ts of being a straight boy.
Two-Spirit
People
by Michel Beauchemin / Lori Levy / Gretchen Vogel
1991, USA
20 min., Color
An overview of historical and contemporary Native American concepts of gender, sexuality and sexual orientation. This documentary explores the berdache tradition in Native American culture, in which individuals who embody feminine and masculine qualities act as a conduit between the physical and spiritual world, and because of this are placed in positions of power within the community.
XXXY
Produced by Porter Gale
2000, USA
13 min., Colour
The most frequent question posed to new parents is: "Is it a boy or a girl?" But this question can't be answered in an estimated one out of every 2,000 births. This thought-provoking documentary is the first film to provide an intimate look at the long-term emotional, psychological, and physiological effects of being born "intersex," or with ambiguous genitalia. The film focuses on the stories of Kristi and Howard, two individuals born "not wholly male and not wholly female." Together they have undergone more than two dozen surgeries to "correct" their gender assignments. In candid and riveting interviews, they speak eloquently about a wide array emotional issues, including shame, secrecy, gender identity, depression, intimacy, and the feelings of disempowerment that come from having no role in the decisions made regarding their gender identity.
Kristi, 23, recounts the emotional devastation she experienced when she discovered she was in fact "XY" after a childhood of being forced to take hormones to grow breasts and develop typical female body characteristics, and after numerous surgeries to create a vaginal cavity. In their commentary, Kristi's parents discuss their good intentions but also their inability to cope with the challenges presented by her situation.
Howard, now a Ph.D. in Sexual Psychology, recalls his many surgeries and his profound, near-suicidal feelings of depression while growing up. Dr. Jorge Deboul, a noted pediatrician at Children's Hospital in Oakland, California, provides professional medical perspective on the issues addressed in the film.
"XXXY" will provoke important classroom discussion of a wide range of vital topics. Is it ethical to operate on the genitals of intersex children before they are old enough to participate in the decisions regarding their gender? Does nature or nurture play a greater role in gender identity? How does society enforce a bipolar gender system? Is gender in fact bipolar or a spectrum of masculinity and femininity? What type of emotional support is available for intersex individuals and their families?
* Western Psychological Assn. honoree
* New York EXPOsition of Short Film and Video Jury Award
* Palm Springs Shorts Film Festival Award
* Louisville Film and Video Festival honoree
* San Francisco Gay and Lesbian Intl. Film Festival honoree
Pashke
and Sofia
by Karin Michalski
2003, Germany (Subtitled)
28 min., Color
This fascinating film is a rare window into Albanian culture and an even more remarkable glimpse at the age-old custom that allows Albanian women to change their gender by taking the oath of a ‘sworn virgin’. Pashke is one of the women who promised not to marry, bear children and to remain celibate in return for the status and respect deemed worthy of a male. Artfully weaving together interviews with Pashke’s family and neighbors with rarely-seen footage on the subject of ‘sworn virgins’ from Albanian cinema, Michalski has created a compelling story about gender roles, with universal implications.
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