There will be a Film Series in the 2008-2009 Academic Year at the Gish Theatre. Stay tuned to this page as the details are worked out. The theme will be TransNational TransGender and will feature gender variant people from across the globe.
There will not be a formal film series for the 2007-2008 academic year. However, we may be having informal screenings at some Transcendence meetings or even at member's private homes. Stay tuned to the "Meetings" page for more info.
SPECIAL SCREENING
Thursday, November 15, 2007 AT 7:30 PM IN UNION 308
"A Girl Like Me: The Gwen Araujo Story." Co-sponsored by LSU.
ARCHIVES:
Dear Friends:
I am pleased to announce that Transcendence is sponsoring a Transgender Film Series for the 2006-2007 Academic Year entitled: Gender Multiplicity: Documenting Trans Lives.
The schedule of cutting-edge documentary films promises to be an exciting glimpse into the lives of trans and gender-variant people struggling to carve out a place for themselves in a transphobic social world. From a historical transgender riot in 1966 San Francisco, to the struggle faced by gender-variant inmates, to the struggles of intersex people to define their own bodies and identities, Gender Multiplicity will inform, enlighten, challenge and move people to action. Please mark your calendars and encourage your friends, colleagues, family members and students not to miss a single one of these amazing stories. - Joelle Ruby Ryan, Transcendence President, Film Series Curator
FALL SEMESTER
Tuesday September 5, 2006: 7:00 PM
The Gish Film Theater
Almost Myself: Reflections on Mending and Transcending Gender. 2006. Directed by Tom Murray.
After finding a most unusual web site that was seeking funds to help reverse a sex change, filmmaker Tom Murray set out on a fascinating cross-country journey to explore just a small part of the vastly diverse transgender community.
Tuesday, October 24, 2006 : In Honor of Intersex Awareness Day: 7:00 PM
The Gish Film Theater
Yellow for Hermaphrodites: Mani’s Story. 2002, 45 minutes.
A documentary film that traces the life of the intersex activist Mani Mitchell. Frances Grant wrote in The New Zealand Herald: “The documentary’s strength comes from the fact that it is nearly all told in Mani’s own words. Strong and articulate, she traces the momentous changes in her life which led to self-acceptance and lack of fear in drawing attention to her ambiguous appearance… [It] is a courageous and unsentimental account of a person who has confronted and overcome extraordinary pressures and exclusion.” Also featured in the film are American intersex activists Angela Moreno and David Vandertie.
Gender Trouble . 2002, 24 minutes.
In this lyrical and moving documentary, four intersex women tell their stories with astonishing bravery and candor. Set against beautiful yet unsettling backgrounds of organically transforming family photographs, orchids and topiary gardens, Melissa, Mary, Barbara and Sara speak openly about hermaphroditism and the secrecy surrounding their conditions and lives. More than one in every 2000 people are born with some sort of intersex condition but you would never know it. Most intersex people have lived in secrecy and silence - the casualties of a medical profession that believed it best to surgically eradicate difference and withhold the truth from their patients.
Tuesday, November 14, 2006: In Honor of Transgender Awareness Days:
Student Union Theater (206 BTSU)
2:30 PM: Cruel and Unusual. 2006, 66 minutes. Directed by Janet Baus, Dan Hunt and Reid Williams.
Women, transgender women such as Ashley, Linda, Anna, Yolanda and Ophelia, are incarcerated in men's prisons across the U.S. from Wyoming to New Jersey and Florida. Denied medical and psychological treatment, victims of rape and violence, the documentary Cruel and Unusual asks if the punishment for their crime is indeed cruel and unusual?
Thursday, November 16, 2006: In Honor of Transgender Awareness Days:
Student Union Theater (206 BTSU)
2:30 PM: Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton’s Cafeteria. 2005, 57 minutes. Produced by Susan Stryker and Victor Silverman. 2005Three years before the
Three years before the famous rioting at New York's Stonewall Inn, there was a riot in San Francisco at Gene Compton's Cafeteria. On a hot Summer's night in 1966, in the city's Tenderloin district, a group of transgender women and gay street-hustlers fought back for the first time in history against everyday police harassment. This act of resistance was a dramatic turning point for the transgender community, and the beginning of a new human rights struggle that continues to this very day. WILL FEATURE A Q & A WITH FILMMAKER DR. SUSAN STRYKER!!!
SPRING SEMESTER
Tuesday, February 6, 2007, 7 PM
Student Union Theater (206 BTSU)
Boy I Am. Directed by Sam Feder and Julie Hollar. 70 minutes, 2006.
While female-to-male transgender visibility has recently exploded in this country, conversations about trans issues in the lesbian community often run into resistance from the many queer women who view transitioning as a "trend" or as an anti-feminist act that taps into male privilege. Boy I Am is a feature-length documentary that begins to break down that barrier and promote dialogue about trans issues through a look at the experiences of three young transitioning FTMs in New York City--Nicco, Norie and Keegan--as they go through major junctures in their transitions, as well as through the voices of lesbians, activists and theorists who raise and address the questions that many people have but few openly discuss.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007, 7 PM
The Gish Film Theater
Metamorphosis: The Remarkable Journey of Granny Lee. 2000, 52 minutes. Directed by Luiz DeBarros.
Metamorphosis is a documentary that explores the life of one of South Africa's most outrageous and vibrant characters - Granny Lee. By outfitting herself with over-the-top costumes, heavy makeup, a foul mouth and a passion for the nightlife she became the most notorious denizen of Johannesburg's decadent club land in the seventies and eighties. The story of Granny Lee is a fascinating journey that merges the personal with the political. It is a life of illusion, glamour and struggle in the shadow of the racial and sexual repression of Calvinist Apartheid. Come on in, have a drink and discover the legend of Granny Lee - the granny you'll wish you had.
The Believers. 2006, 80 minutes. Directed by Todd Holland.
The Believers documents the journey of the world’s first transgender gospel choir. The film takes us from the choir’s shaky beginnings —a heartwarmingly chaotic, cacophonous group unable to agree on much of anything, arguing over appropriate wardrobe and learning to sing with transitioning voices —through their transformation into the polished, award-winning choir and close-knit family they are today, garnering major performances and winning an Outmusic Award in 2004 for the album Whosoever Believes.
Sponsored by Transcendence