Framing Agnes

The Alexander Ball is an observational documentary extravaganza celebrating Samoan-Māori-Australian trans woman of colour, Ella Ganza, and the Meanjin (Brisbane) ballroom scene, as she and her ballroom family prepare for one of the biggest pride events of the year: The Alexander Ball.

Two legends contested their identities as women in the court of public opinion: April Ashley, who was immortalized as a trailblazer by embracing her transgender history; and Amanda Lear, who has consciously denied and obfuscated her history for decades. Their divergent paths reveal disparate but intertwined legacies.

Ancla

Caught between societal expectations and family obligations, a closeted trans woman in China faces a harrowing choice: risk social abandonment by embracing her true self, or endure the mental strain of remaining invisible to stay safe.

Ricardo was once Sara, a homeless HIV positive transvestite, living in the underbelly of Manhattan. Today he is a churchgoing, married man, "saved" by a Dallas ministry. He has renounced his homosexuality, but is his conversion complete? Susana Aiken and Carlos Aparicio offer an intimate look at Ricardo's transformation.

Bambi Lake, a notorious San Francisco transgender performer and entertainer, takes us on a stroll down Polk Street, sharing anecdotes and the history behind her song Golden Age of Hustlers, which was written about her time as a street hustler in the mid-70’s.

In this film, Laerte conjugates the body in the feminine, and scrutinizes concepts and prejudices. Not in search of an identity, but in search of un-identities. Laerte creates and sends creatures to face reality in the fictional world of comic strips as a vanguard of the self. And, on the streets, the one who becomes the fiction of a real character. Laerte, of all the bodies, and of none, complicates all binaries. In following Laerte, this documentary chooses to clothe the nudity beyond the skin we inhabit.

Edhi Alice: REVERSE begins from the perspective of Edhi, who is about to undergo gender confirmation surgery, and transitions into the journey of another protagonist, Alice, as she comes to terms with her body. The narrative of transition expands beyond a personal life story to encompass relationships, bodily experiences, and the sense of space, becoming a cinematic transformation.

“It ain’t easy…being green” is the favorite expression of Stormé DeLarverie, a woman whose life flouted prescriptions of gender and race. During the 1950s and '60s she toured the black theater circuit as a mistress of ceremonies and the sole male impersonator of the legendary Jewel Box Revue, America’s first integrated female impersonation show and forerunner of La Cage aux Folles.

Tien is the first Asian trans man to publicly come out in the Vancouver, then, gay and lesbian community of 2001. In this profound and inspiring film, Tien shares his story as a trailblazing, racialised, transgender immigrant and his journey to discovering his true purpose in life — cultivating and becoming joy.

Luca longs for his lost love; Thalles for a name change; Raul to be a better person. They all share one element: they were born as women.

In Córdoba, far from the Argentine capital, the end of a military regime promises a spring that is all too brief. “La Delpi” is the only survivor of a group of friends who are transgender women and drag-queens, who began to die of aids in the late 80s. In a Catholic and conservative city, the Grupo Kalas made their weapons and trenches out of improvised dresses and lip-syncing. Today the images of unique and unknown footage are not only a farewell letter, but a manifesto to friendship.

The brutal and often poignant story of a boy trapped in the body of a girl. It takes us on the journey of a typical Afrikaans child who faces self-hate, societal rejection, doubt and ultimately healing. A story about a transgender child fighting to find their place in the world.

After a long period in life identifying as a Butch Lesbian, Cuthand considers transitioning to male. After a considerable amount of thought and discussion, Cuthand changed her mind and decided to remain a Butch Lesbian. Explaining her decision, she touches on the desire to maintain a connection to the Lesbian community, as well as the sexy genderfucking that happens when one is a masculine woman.

Vikken is transgender. He’s about to take hormones for the first time. He records his voice that will disappear, and summons the figures of the past from all over the world for an intimate dialogue with himself.

Kelet is a twentysomething black trans woman, whose greatest dream is to be on the cover of Vogue magazine. For the Finnish-born and Manchester-raised Kelet, such models as Naomi Campbell and Iman served as role models giving her strength – and during the darkest times, kept her alive. After coming out, then 19-year-old Kelet was cut off from her family and she moved back to Finland on her own.

A music short based on the true story of Rafaela Amrita Crevoshay (aka Rita), who transitioned from male to female at the age of 76 years after a lifetime of hiding. The raw footage of the music video was created using Grok Imagine.

The work deals with the election campaign of Vladimir Luxuria, the first transgender woman to sit in the Italian Parliament. She started off as an entertainer in gay nightclubs, found fame in television parlours and achieved consecration as a defender of LGBT rights by organising the first World Gay Pride in Rome in the Jubilee year. Luxuria entered parliament and with her emerged a social cross-section of an Italy that is changing in spite of prejudice. Thanks to her social battles around Italy, the voices of LGBT people gain visibility and social recognition

"TDS, derrière l'écran des travailleuses du sexe" is a deep dive into the lives of Betty, Anaïs, Noochka, Manon, and Barty. They have all ventured into the world of selling sexual content online. What pushes someone to take the step of signing up on these platforms? What are their motivations? What are the consequences on their personal lives? Why do some choose to stick with it for years, while others decide to stop for good?

A timeline of transformation, compiled from 8 years' worth of photos by and of transgender actress and filmmaker Robyn Adams.