Tramps, Troublemakers & Trailblazers: Trans Authorship in Film

Boundary-breaking filmmakers reclaim their stories with these richly varied looks at the trans experience. Long misrepresented on-screen through disreputable and actively harmful images, trans characters have come into focus thanks to a pioneering generation of trans directors determined to capture their lives with nuance and hard-won insight. Curated by Caden Mark Gardner and Willow Catelyn Maclay, authors of the book “Corpses, Fools, and Monsters: The History and Future of Transness in Cinema,” these revealing counterhistories of cultural trailblazers (RUPERT REMEMBERS, NO ORDINARY MAN), intersectional portraits of everyday survival (DRUNKTOWN’S FINEST, LINGUA FRANCA), and bold explorations of identity in the online age (WE’RE ALL GOING TO THE WORLD’S FAIR, CASTRATION MOVIE ANTHOLOGY I. TRAPS) show that there is no single, common trans film image but rather a kaleidoscope of voices, forms, and lived realities.