Directed by Aisling Chin-Yee and Chase Joynt • 2020 • Canada
Starring Billy Tipton, Susan Stryker, Kate Bornstein
American jazz musician Billy Tipton developed a reputable touring and recording career in the mid-twentieth century, along with his band the Billy Tipton Trio. After his death in the late 1980s, it was revealed that Tipton had been assigned female at birth, and his life was swiftly reframed as the story of an ambitious woman passing as a man in pursuit of a music career. The genre-defying documentary NO ORDINARY MAN seeks to correct that misrepresentation by collaborating with trans artists. As they collectively celebrate Tipton’s story as a musician living his life on his own terms, they paint a vivid portrait of a trans culture hero. NO ORDINARY MAN features leading voices and breakout stars in the trans community, including Marquise Vilsón, Scott Turner Schofield, Susan Stryker, C. Riley Snorton, and Thomas Page McBee.
Up Next in Documentaries
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Meet Marlon Brando
Directed by Albert Maysles, David Maysles, and Charlotte Zwerin • 1966 • United States
Starring Marlon Brando, Rex Morgan, Mary FrannMEET MARLON BRANDO is a delightful, unusually candid portrait of the legendary actor during a tongue-in-cheek confrontation with the press. While television journ...
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Tongues Untied
Directed by Marlon Riggs • 1989 • United States
Marlon Riggs’s landmark documentary uses poetry, personal testimony, rap, and performance (featuring poet Essex Hemphill and others) to describe the homophobia and racism faced by Black gay men. The stories are often devastating: the man refused en...
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Orion: The Man Who Would Be King
Directed by Jeanie Finlay • 2015 • United Kingdom, United States
ORION: THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING tells the story of Jimmy Ellis—an unknown singer plucked from obscurity and thrust into the spotlight as part of a crazy scheme that had him masquerade as Elvis, back from the grave. With a fictiona...
