In 1968, Gordon Langley Hall claimed he was a woman misdiagnosed as male at birth because of a genital defect. To correct this, Gordon underwent one of the first sex reassignment surgeries in the United States. Her subsequent marriage to a black auto mechanic and the mysterious birth of their daughter Natasha sent Charleston, SC society into a fury and cast serious doubts on the truth behind Dawn’s story.
From a young age, Natsuki knew she was a girl despite her sex assigned at birth. Against the backdrop of conservative Japanese society, this poignant docudrama tells her remarkable story of gender transition. Reflecting on her high school years, Natsuki interviews the supportive friends and family who supported her choices – and also confronts the people those who oppressed her freedom. Tracing Natsumi’s story to the present, this compelling portrait of gender identity in contemporary Japan offers insights of a layered experience in a complex society.
A pack of strays – seven dogs and one woman live in the shadows of Moscow. Hidden from the totalitarian authorities, two species share their existence on the verge of disappearance. They are straying in constant restlessness through a savage landscape where the city is cracking. Shot from the animal’s point of view, patterns of mutual dependence and taming begin to blur.
A German Documentary about the “village of friendship” that was created by American Veteran George Mizo to help the Vietnamese kids suffering from the Vietnam War.
James Rasin's documentary “Beautiful Darling” honors American Transgender actress and best-known Warhol Superstar, Candy Darling, and her all-too-brief life and career, with a combination of current and vintage interview material, rarely seen archival photos and footage, and extracts from Darling's movies.
Following a year in Cadance and Amanda's gender transition, this intimate documentary charts not only their personal transformation but the building of a life and community together in regional New South Wales.
A trans paranormal investigator and their team search for the connection between the queer and the strange as they explore the mysterious and magical world of the rural south.
When asked a question on politics, late Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish once answered: “I write about love to expose the conditions that don’t allow me to write about love.” In TWO TRAVELERS TO A RIVER Palestinian actress Manal Khader recites such a poem by Mahmoud Darwish: a concise reflection on how things could have been.
In Manhattan's Central Park, a film crew directed by William Greaves is shooting a screen test with various pairs of actors. It's a confrontation between a couple: he demands to know what's wrong, she challenges his sexual orientation. Cameras shoot the exchange, and another camera records Greaves and his crew. Sometimes we watch the crew discussing this scene, its language, and the process of making a movie. Is there such a thing as natural language? Are all things related to sex? The camera records distractions - a woman rides horseback past them; a garrulous homeless vet who sleeps in the park chats them up. What's the nature of making a movie?
A young woman is fed up with the usual consumer's television and begins to make her own television, or more correctly, closevision. She is now a reporter who wanders around Berlin with her camera and 'telecasting apparatus' on her back. Her livingroom has been transformed into a studio and here the different programs are assembled and aired: statements, interviews, realistic and phantastic programs.
Soul Cage is a non-verbal documentary, which shows the process of creation. The specially composed music builds the dramaturgy of the film on equal rights with the image. This “cinematographic sonata” explores the boundaries of documentary and operates with details, shadows and mystery. The film gets inside the art process of Johanna Forsberg, who lives in the north of Sweden. From the raw metal mesh, cold and resistant, through the fragile moment of creation, to the darkness of the workshop – where everything is possible and the creations have their own life and souls.
Los días azules
Brianna: A Mother's Story - Esther Ghey tells the powerful and emotional true story of her daughter Brianna, a sixteen year old trans girl who was groomed by a murder obsessed classmate.
Many times during his presidency, Lyndon B. Johnson said that ultimate victory in the Vietnam War depended upon the U.S. military winning the "hearts and minds" of the Vietnamese people. Filmmaker Peter Davis uses Johnson's phrase in an ironic context in this anti-war documentary, filmed and released while the Vietnam War was still under way, juxtaposing interviews with military figures like U.S. Army Chief of Staff William C. Westmoreland with shocking scenes of violence and brutality.
Fragmentary perspectives on Human Rights and transgender (trans*) People in Turkey. What remains at the place where a murder happened? What constitutes trans* life? How to cope with daily violence and hatred? We begin to search for traces. We follow the tracks of resistance and survival. We are collectors of the expelled. We gather fragments of trans* lives inspired by texts of Nazim Hikmet, Foucault, Benjamin and Zeki Müren. Trans*BUT is a documental research study driven by the question: “What keeps you going when all else falls away?”
A solo audiovisual performance. Eighth entry into deeply beguiling series of works responding to the Alps acted as the closing night event of Alchemy Film Festival. The images are studies of the Alps degraded and distorted live at the front of the auditorium; the picture pixelated, streams of colour engulfed the screen like a crashed desktop, and as hawks hovered over the mountains they left staggered trails of glitches across the screen like computerised vapour trails. The audio was also created live using short atonal precomposed tracks. The aim was to create a digital alchemy, an abstracted journey into the mountains, a wild wonder inside and out.
Three young Texans try to adjust to small-town life after experiencing the emotional toll of combat in the jungles of Vietnam.
Experimental short film by Barbara Sykes
In the 50s and 60s, deep in the American countryside at the foot of the Catskills, a small wooden house with a barn behind it was home to the first clandestine network of cross-dressers. Diane and Kate are now 80 years old. At the time, they were men and part of this secret organization. Today, they relate this forgotten but essential chapter of the early days of trans-identity. It is a story full of noise and fury, rich in extraordinary characters, including the famous Susanna, who had the courage to create this refuge that came to be known as Casa Susanna.
An extraordinary tale of resilience unfolds against the backdrop of intense political rivalry and media scrutiny. Joanne Conte, the indomitable child of Italian immigrants, weathers the storm of public vilification as her past is unceremoniously plastered across the front pages of Colorado papers and on The Maury Povich Show. Yet, this assault on her character is not enough to halt the unwavering march of her life of service. She breaks barriers as the first transgender person to be elected to a city council in U.S. history, but her identity extends far beyond this groundbreaking accomplishment. As a valiant soldier, an impassioned activist, and a tenacious politician, Conte carves out a formidable legacy. This is an emotionally charged and evocatively detailed portrait of Joanne Conte, a multifaceted individual who lived her life far beyond the simplistic narratives of headlines.