“Documentaries” (shorts program)
Thursday, November 14, 2024, 7:00 pm, Roxie Theater
- Earth to KB, dir. Em Shapiro, 2024 USA, 19 minutes 💖
- Lavender Outlaws, dir. Damon Beirne, 2024 USA, 15 minutes 👏
- My Fierce Aunt Bianca, dir. María José Maldonado & Latavia Alicia Young 💖
- Finding My Voice, dir. Rouven Gueissaz, 2024 Switzerland, 10 minutes 👏
- Alquimia Trans [Trans Alchemy], dir. Félix Endara, 2024 Ecuador/USA, 8 minutes 👏
- Chosen Family, dir. Salgu Wissmath, 2023 USA, 4½ minutes 👏
- Love Don’t Bully, dir. Yoyo Anchondo, 2023 USA, 8 minutes 👏
Earth to KB, dir. Em Shapiro, 2024 USA, 19 minutes 💖
 |
| Earth to KB |
A portrait of KB Brookins, a Black, queer and trans writer from Texas manifesting freedom in their present and future. The film explores the expansive worlds within KB's poetry, as well as intimate moments shared with their wife, friends, and community in Austin. KB performs selected poems from their collections, Freedom House, and, How To Identify Yourself With a Wound, within the film. Unapologetic Austin queers, powerful and moving. MUST SEE.
 |
| Lavender Outlaws |
• 🌉 Bay Area premiere 👏
Amidst a wave of violence and restrictive legislation, a group of musicians converge on Nashville, Tennessee, to reveal the true outlaws of country music. It’s a great film about a fun, vibrant group of musicians. Highly recommended.
• IMDb • Official website • Instagram: @DamonBeirne @SecretEmchySociety • preview (vimeo) • Facebook: @EmchyMusic •
My Fierce Aunt Bianca, dir. María José Maldonado & Latavia Alicia Young 💖
• 🌊 California premiere
• 🌊 California premiere
 |
| My Fierce Aunt Bianca |
While planning a birthday party for her late aunt Bianca “Exotica” Maldonado, María José Maldonado revisits the past in order to celebrate and correct Bianca’s legacy as a transgender woman who made multiple talk-show appearances back in the VCR era.
We follow María José in taking the first steps in fulfilling her promise to Bianca through understanding her childhood as told by Bianca’s mother, Gloria Voelcker, revisiting the fun of New York City in the '90s as well as the formidable moments with Bianca’s best friend, Nana Nazario, and creating meaning and connection through spiritual practice with Bianca’s niece, Andromeda Rodriguez. Marrying those moments with María José’s fond childhood memories of spending time with Bianca, we experience a visual and auditory tribute to both Bianca herself and their relationship.
The film culminates at Bianca’s 57th birthday party and reinforces the copious but, at times, contemptuous love that Bianca—and many trans people today—receive from friends and family.
It’s emotionally powerful, and also a valuable time capsule of trans presence in media in the 1990s. (Note: some of the language, particularly the term “she-male,” feels dated, but it was the 1990s.) MUST SEE.
• IMDb • Official website • FilmFreeway info & preview link • Instagram: @MyFierceAuntBianca • Maria Jose Maldonado
Finding My Voice, dir. Rouven Gueissaz, 2024 Switzerland, 10 minutes 👏
• 🌊 West Coast premiere
• 🌊 West Coast premiere
 |
| Finding My Voice |
This short student documentary is a crossed portrait of two transgender women working on their voice to make it sound more feminine and to match the new person they have become. One of them is 67-year-old Bernie Wagenblast, one of New York’s most famous voices. She is one of the male subway voices, heard by millions of commuters every day. She feels comfortable with both her voices. The other character is 25-year-old Jade Stephan, who is currently seeing a voice therapist to help her work on her voice. This film explores their relationship to their voices and how voices can be a factor of integration into society.
If you’ve ever ridden the numbered lines of the New York subway, you’ve probably heard something like “The 2 train is arriving in 3 minutes. Please stand back from the platform.” That is the pre-transition voice of one of our subjects, who can still slip into that voice at will. It’s an intimate portrait of an important aspect of transition — not just figuratively but literally finding your new voice. The gender-affirming procedures and hormone therapies don’t change a trans woman’s voice; it takes time and a lot of work. This is a valuable document, with the intriguing angle that one of them has a voice very familiar to New Yorkers. Highly recommended.
The SFTFF program lists this as the world premiere, but it premiered at the Soho International Film Festival in New York City, and also played at the Tallgrass Film Festival in Kansas — where it won the audience award for best documentary short.
• no IMDb • Instagram: @GroovenRouven [not “GroovenRooven”] •
Alquimia Trans [Trans Alchemy], dir. Félix Endara, 2024 Ecuador/USA, 8 min., in Spanish with English subtitles • 🌊 West Coast premiere 👏
 |
| Alquimia Trans [Trans Alchemy] |
Embracing a quiet and minimalist style, "ALQUIMIA TRANS" serves as a meditative exploration of the power of self-discovery. The visual aesthetic has a deliberately subtle quality that functions as if the participants are speaking to and with each other.
To present a rich and multidimensional narrative, the film intricately weaves interviews with key figures in Latin American trans masculine advocacy. These brave individuals have faced isolation and challenges amid a scarcity of visibility, resources, and support networks. Despite discrimination, they demonstrate immense courage, pioneering the way for future generations and contributing to the progress of the trans community. The featured leaders, who span a variety of ages, have defied societal norms, leaving an indelible mark on generations of trans masculine individuals.
The trans men featured in "ALQUIMIA TRANS" are activists involved in LGBT and trans masculine-specific advocacy in their countries. The film serves as living proof, countering the notion that trans men lack a substantial history of advocacy and empowerment and highlighting the diverse paths to liberation within the trans masculine community.
Very good, a perspective we don’t often hear. Highly recommended.
This film is also listed incorrectly as a world premiere. It premiered at Newfest in New York City.
This film also appears in Program #4, “International.”
Chosen Family, dir. Salgu Wissmath, 2023 USA, 4½ minutes 👏
• 🌊 West Coast premiere
• 🌊 West Coast premiere
 |
| Chosen Family |
You couldn’t get me to play roller derby — I’m strictly an occasional recreational skater — but the camaraderie is strong and the sense of chosen family is palpable. Highly recommended.
Love Don’t Bully, dir. Yoyo Anchondo, 2023 USA, 8 minutes, in English and in American Sign Language with English subtitles • 🌊 West Coast premiere 👏
 |
| Love Don’t Bully |
In an era marked by aggressive division, it’s reassuring to see kids embracing empathy and inclusion. Even more remarkable: the filmmaker was in the 8th grade at the time! Highly recommended.
No comments:
Post a Comment