SHORTS BLOCK: TRANS THROUGH TIME
SAT MAY 6 | 9 PM | ARK LODGE CINEMAS
AVAILABLE VIRTUALLY MAY 4-7
The theme of this year’s TRANSlations is Trans Through Time, a celebration of trans cinema over the years, and the work of trans artists that deserves rediscovery. This block is composed of work from some of our jurors, current independent filmmakers, plus archival pieces kept safe inside the walls of the UCLA/Outfest Legacy Project. In its 18-years of existence, TRANSlations has become one of the largest trans-focused film festivals in the world, uplifting voices of new generations of artists for almost two decades. This coming of age program acknowledges the stories of those who came before. As a way of celebrating the past, present and future of our community, TRANS THROUGH TIME rescues and revalues some of these stories while also selecting more contemporary pieces told from a personal perspective by artists who challenge the canons of traditional cinema.
Behind Every Good Man (c. 1967), 8 min., 16mm to digital - Nikolai Ursin
Produced several years before the historic Stonewall uprising for LGBTQ rights in 1969, director Nikolai Ursin's gently-activist short provides an illuminating glimpse into the life of an African-American trans woman. In strong contrast to the stereotypically negative and hostile depictions of transgender people as seen through the lens of Hollywood at the time, the subject of Ursin's independent film is rendered as stable, hopeful, and well-adjusted.
Trans (c. 1994), 9 min., 16mm to digital file - Sophie E. Constantinou.
Trans (1994) is a short conversational documentary with Henry on the cusp of transition. Henry muses about the narrow definition of gender/sex, femininity, sexual politics and the joy of wearing a suit.
The Ride (2000), 9 min., 16mm to digital - Bill Basquin
Sexual suggestion, intimate bravado, and emotional ambiguity underlie this meditative adventure story where the up-for-discussion gender of a small town cab driver is the focal point of conversation.
At least you know you exist (2011) 16 min., 16mm to digital - Zackary Drucker
Created inside an archeology of the uptown New York City apartment inhabited by legendary performer/drag queen Mother Flawless Sabrina, At least you know you exist (2011) is a site-specific exploration of a fixed space where everything is in a state of change. Known as Jack to those close to him, he lived in the same apartment at 5 East 73rd Street for more than 45 years—a crowded, unwieldy place that fiercely pronounces his rejection of conformity. In this 16mm film, totemic mystical objects act as a collection of mysterious sculptures in different states of mutation, and rich layers of feverish history interface with a new vision of transgender performativity. Navigating the real and the unconscious, oscillating between documentary and myth narrative, Zackary Drucker weaves a fluid, parallel text of these two divergent lives, exploring a legacy being passed from a lost generation towards the future.
Golden Golden (2016), 14 min., digital file - Eric Cho
Two broke San Bernardino 20-somethings make their way to Los Angeles to learn about their own secret desires, via a fortune teller’s crystal balls. Through different settings and musical genres, space opens for their desires and love for one another to run free. Golden Golden was featured in Trans History in Objects:Trans Video Store, a special MOTHA (Museum of Trans Hirstory and Art) exhibition.
Pirate Boys (2018), 13 min., digital file - Pol Merchan
Kathy Acker's writing, and a seminal portrait of her taken by intersex photographer Del LaGrace Volcano, provide a lens through which to explore trans subjectivity and the queering of cinema. Pol Merchan's hybrid documentary fluidly moves from the documentation of the punk era to a more performative exploration of gender.
A Trans With A Movie Camera (2018) 13 min., digital file - Frances Arpaia
A non-narrative cine-essay that collaboratively explores potential for trans-feminine representation in film.
Resume at the Point of Interruption (2022) 31 min., digital file - Dana Washington-Queen
This experimental documentary follows Black individuals, including the artist, as they intuit and improvise their way through the world. In the chapter on Washington-Queen, we see the queer nonbinary photographer receive hormone replacement therapy and meditate on themes of gender, difference, constraint, and freedom.
TRANS THROUGH TIME
TRT: 113min