Disclosure

DISCLOSURE, from Netflix, is an unprecedented, eye-opening look at transgender depictions in film and television, revealing how Hollywood simultaneously reflects and manufactures our deepest anxieties about gender. Leading trans thinkers and creatives, including Laverne Cox, Lilly Wachowski, Yance Ford, Mj Rodriguez, Jamie Clayton, and Chaz Bono, share their reactions and resistance to some of Hollywood’s most beloved moments. Grappling with films like A Florida Enchantment (1914), Dog Day Afternoon, The Crying Game, and Boys Don’t Cry, and with shows like The Jeffersons, The L-Word, and Pose, they trace a history that is at once dehumanizing, yet also evolving, complex, and sometimes humorous. What emerges is a fascinating story of dynamic interplay between trans representation on screen, society’s beliefs, and the reality of trans lives. Reframing familiar scenes and iconic characters in a new light, director Sam Feder invites viewers to confront unexamined assumptions, and shows how what once captured the American imagination now elicit new feelings. DISCLOSURE provokes a startling revolution in how we see and understand trans people.

 Trailer: 

Switching Teans

Lesley Stahl of 60 Minutes profiles Harvard swimmer Schuyler Bailar, who may be the first openly transgender male athlete to compete in a NCAA Division I men's sport.

Growing Up Trans (2015)

This Frontline documentary is powerful, moving and memorable. (1 hour 24 minutes)

"Just a generation ago, it was adults, not kids, who changed genders. But today, many children are transitioning, too -- with new medical options, and at younger and younger ages. In Growing Up Trans, FRONTLINE takes viewers on an intimate and eye-opening journey inside the struggles and choices facing transgender kids and their families."

TransAmerica

From the NY Times: To call Felicity Huffman's performance in "Transamerica" persuasive would be an understatement, as well as somewhat misleading. Her character, Bree (short for Sabrina), is a pre-operative transsexual who lives in Los Angeles and in a condition she refers to as "stealth." In other words, though still technically male, Bree passes for a woman, though there is nothing very stealthy about her almost theatrical displays of femininity. In this debut feature by Duncan Tucker, who wrote and directed it, "Transamerica" sets out to affirm Bree's dignity, to liberate her and others like her from any association with camp or freakishness. That the film succeeds without slipping too far into sentimentality or didacticism is in no small measure the result of Ms. Huffman's wit and grace. Her performance is a complex metamorphosis, and it is thrilling to watch. "Transamerica" itself does not always live up to its star, but it is touching and sometimes funny, despite its overall air of indie earnestness. Mr. Tucker is a subtle and conscientious writer; he takes care to treat Bree as a person rather than a case study. — A. O. Scott, The New York Times 2005 103 minutes I finally saw this movie. It is sensitively produced, funny, and a great introduction to this subject -- well worth seeing. Availability: Netflix