#gnfilms

13 Genders (2004)

13 Genders is an intimate and personal documentary. The interviewees attempt to articulate their interactions with and attitudes toward their own gender expression, intersex and transgender issues, gender in entertainment and the workplace, sexual preference and the future of gender. The non-expert interviews, woven together with music and movie clips, are sometimes funny, often contradictory and occasionally surprisingly similar.

Becoming Chaz (2011)

Documentary. Documentary following Chaz (formerly Chastity) Bono's gender transition. Includes interviews with family members and friends as the transition is followed.

Between the Lines – India's Third Gender (2005)

A documentary on the lives of three 'hijras', biological men who dress as women though class themselves as neither gender: they are India's self-identified third gender.

Boy I Am (2006)

While female-to-male transgender visibility has recently exploded in this country, conversations about trans issues in the lesbian community often run into resistance from the many queer women who view transitioning as a "trend" or as an anti-feminist act that taps into male privilege. Boy I Am is a feature-length documentary that begins to break down that barrier and promote dialogue about trans issues through a look at the experiences of three young transitioning FTMs in New York City--Nicco, Norie and Keegan--as they go through major junctures in their transitions, as well as through the voices of lesbians, activists and theorists who raise and address the questions that many people have but few openly discuss.

A Boy Named Sue (2000)

Theo is a female-to-male transsexual. This documentary follows his six-year process of becoming a man. Among those affected by his change is his girl friend Lisi who has to deal with what this change means to her.

Brandon Teena Story, The (1998)

Documentary about Brandon Teena (aka Teena Brandon), a transgendered man, who was murdered along with two others in 1993 in rural Nebraska. The story is told through interviews with people who knew Brandon, recorded interrogation and trial transcripts, and photographs and file film footage.

Call Me Malcolm (2005)

Documentary. Call Me Malcolm is a documentary about a 27 year-old transgender seminary student, and his struggle with faith, love and gender identity.In 1977, a boy was born in a girl's body. After several years of self-doubt and confusion, the boy learned that he was Transgendered, and four years ago he took the necessary steps to externally live into the gender he had always been internally. The first of these steps was taking on his new name: Malcolm.

Drag Kings On Tour (2004)

In Drag Kings on Tour, a feature documentary in the spirit of "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert," we tour North America in a motor home with a lively ensemble of drag kings as they perform a politically charged burlesque in cities as diverse as Biloxi, Mississippi; St. Louis, Missouri; and Toronto, Ontario.The drama of the film lies between the kings' interpersonal relationships and their interaction with audience members across the country. The Kings confront traditional definitions of masculinity and femininity, as both men and women learn about themselves their attractions, and identities regardless of their sexual orientation.

Gender Rebel (2006)

Documentary. What does it mean to be on the newest frontier of sexual identity, to identify not as male or female, but something that's a little of both - or neither? Gender Rebel, profiles 3 biological females who reject the traditional, binary concept of gender, preferring instead to occupy a point on the vast spectrum that they feel lies between "male" and "female."

Georgie Girl (2001)

Documentary. Georgina Beyer is a transexual of Maori descent who was elected in 1999 to represent her district in New Zealand's National government. Beyer has been a showgirl, a sex worker and now a politician. This is her story.

How Do I Look (2006)

How Do I Look is a documentary about the Harlem House Ball competitions, also known as "Drag Balls". It is an artistic empowerment and HIV/AIDS awareness community project.

I Am a Girl (2010)

Short film/documentary (Joppe really exists) Very good (on YouTube). Every 13-year-old girl dreams of that nice, but hard-to-get, boy. And Joppe is no different, consulting her friend on how to ask Brian out. But just how should she tell Brian that she was born a boy?

I Am Jazz: A Family in Transition (2011)

A documentary that tells the story of Jazz, an 11-year-old transgender girl.She started living as a girl when she was just a toddler, and her family has been very supportive in helping her make the transition. She's gotten a fair amount of press in the past, and is far more poised than most girls her age.

Just Call Me Kade (2002)

The inspiring true story of Kade Farlow Collins 14, FTM (female to male) transgendered, and living with an incredibly understanding family in Tucson Arizona.

Let Me Die a Woman (1978)

A documentary on the work of sex-change specialist Dr.Leo Wollman, including interviews with Dr.Wollman and a few of his patients, with an illustrated lecture on the various aspects of transsexuality plus actual footage of a sex-change operation, which is what gives the film its notoriety.

Middle Sexes: Redefining He and She (2005)

Documentary. Examines the diversity of human sexual and gender variance around the globe, with commentary by scientific experts and first-hand accounts of people who do not conform to a simple male/female binary.

No Dumb Questions (2001)

A documentary about three sisters, aged 6, 9 and 11, struggling to understand why and how their Uncle Bill is becoming a woman.

Opposite Sex: Rene's Story, The (2004)

Rene, 31, a female-to-male gender reassignment candidate took hormones for years and "passed" as a man for all of his adult life. Married to his high-school sweetheart, Wona, a heterosexual woman, for 12 years, no one would guess Rene was biologically a woman. Living under a veil of secrecy and lies, Rene and Wona's lives seemed fine until someone "outted" the couple at their beloved church and everything they knew was destroyed. The public revelation of Rene's secret starts to unravel his marriage to Wona. Through all of it, Rene continues to hold on to his lifelong obsession to become a biological male and goes on a cross-country search to find the best transgender surgeon, only to discover that the current surgery options are flawed.

Renee (2011)

During the 1970's, Dr. Richard Raskin was a respected surgeon and a nationally ranked professional tennis player. A Yale graduate, Raskin was married to a Ford model and with whom he had recently had a son. In 1976, Raskin underwent permanent, life-altering surgery. Dr. Raskin was no longer - enter Dr. Renee Richards. The Life and Times of Dr. Renee Richards is a documentary that highlights the issues of the modern transgender life with Dr. Richards at the center. Since her time in the tennis spotlight, she has been a hero, villain, roll model and all around controversial figure. Footage includes US Open tennis coverage, family members including Renee's son, sister and former wife.

She's A Boy I Knew (2007)

Using interviews, animation, old family footage, and voice mail, Vancouver filmmaker Gwen Haworth documents her male-to-female gender transition partially through the voices of her anxious but loving family, best friend, and wife. Calling for a new era of DIY transgender self-representation, Haworths feature debut is a comic, heartbreaking, and uplifting autobiography that breaks away from the marginalized depictions of transsexuals that populate mainstream media and focuses on the interpersonal relationships of a family who unexpectedly find their bonds strengthening as they overcome their preconceptions of gender and sexuality.

Shinjuku Boys (1996)

A documentary about love and gender. This documentary is set in the New Marilyn night club in Tokyo, Japan - where the hosts are women who have chosen to live as men. They can only make their living as hosts in a nightclub with other 'wannabes' like them. The young women who come there often have relationships with them but the underlying fear is whether such a relationship can withstand the pressures on a girl to get married and have children. All three boys deal with this in different ways. These three hosts, the Shinjuku Boys, take us into their lives.

Sir: Just A Normal Guy (2002)

Jay Snider is a 30 year old woman transitioning to a man. This film documents that process and includes interviews with him as well as his ex-husband Dave, his queer pal Sean Doig, and Kari his lesbian girlfriend.

Southern Comfort (2001)

Southern Comfort documents the final year in the life of Robert Eads, a female-to-male transsexual. Eads, diagnosed with ovarian cancer, was turned down for treatment by two dozen doctors out of fear that treating such a patient would hurt their reputations. By the time Eads received treatment, the cancer was too advanced to save his life. Filmmaker Kate Davis follows Robert and a group of trans-gendered Southerners in this captivating and truly touching documentary.

Still Black: A Portrait of Black Transmen (2008)

The documentary is brought to life by the stories of six thoughtful, eloquent and diverse transmen. Preachers, teachers, students and activists educate us simply by making their presence known. Each man brings a colorful and complex richness as he describes his relationship to himself, as well as others in his life.

Straightlaced: How Gender's Got Us All Laced- Up (2009)

A powerful documentary about the lives of teens and young adults as seen through the gender lens. Approaching society's ideas and ideals of gender through clothes, sexuality, sports, dance, safety, consumerism and emotion, the film addresses the complexities of conceptions of masculinity and femininity for Generation Z.

TransGeneration (2005)

What is it like to be a man trapped in a woman's body? How does a woman become a man? TransGeneration, a dramatic and mesmerizing eight-part series, is a year-in-the-life look at four college students--Gabbie, Lucas, Raci, and T.J.--who are juggling the challenges of academia with their commitment to transition from their birth sex. Faced with life-altering choices--about how to deal with parents and society, whether or not to take hormone therapy and undergo sex re-assignment surgery--these four remarkable individuals deal with their deeply misunderstood identities in starkly unique ways. In every moment of this radical, paradigm-busting film, these collegiate transgendered students blow up stereotypes while coming to terms with how to change their bodies to fit their minds.

Two Spirits (2009)

Documentary. Filmmaker Lydia Nibley explores the cultural context behind a tragic and senseless murder. Fred Martinez was a Navajo youth slain at the age of 16 by a man who bragged to his friends that he 'bug-smashed a fag'. But Fred was part of an honored Navajo tradition - the 'nadleeh', or 'two-spirit', who possesses a balance of masculine and feminine traits. Through telling Fred's story, Nibley reminds us of the values that America's indigenous peoples have long embraced.

Venus Boyz (2002)

A film journey through a universe of female masculinity. A legendary Drag King Night in New York is the point of departure for an odyssey to transgendered worlds, where women become men - some for a night, others for their whole lives. What motivates them? What changes take place? What do they dream of? The drag kings of New York meet in clubs and change lustfully into their male alter egos, parodying them and exploring male eroticism and power strategies. In London we see women experiment with hormones to become new men and 'cyborgs'. Masculinity and transformation as performance, subversion or existential necessity.

What Sex Am I (1985)

In this informative documentary, director Lee Grant interviews several Americans who have undergone sex-change operations. As of 1985, about 2500 Americans a month undergo operations that transform them from male to female, or vice-versa. Grant provides the history-making precedent of Christine Jorgensen, an American soldier who went to Denmark for the operations that would change his gender. After some black-and-white television coverage of the "new" Christine, she is interviewed here again, about 30 years later. As Grant points out, the combination of operations and hormonal therapy changes more than the physical aspects of the individual -- the effect on one's emotions and social interactions can be devastating, and so counseling is often provided. In one instance filmed by Grant, a man regretted his decision, but there was nothing that could be done to reverse the changes.

XX to XY: Fighting to be Jake (2003)