We Who Are Sexy: The Film List

Susan Stryker and I had a great time this afternoon at the Victoria Theater presenting the Frameline: San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival premiere of our clip show, We Who Are Sexy: The Whirlwind History of Transgender Images in Cinema. We had a wonderful audience there, many of whom joined us for a post-screening Q&A at Muddy Waters on 16th & Valencia. A few people were interested to know the titles of all the films we included so I promised to post the list here on my blog. Do run out to the video store to get these (we recommend Four Star and Lost Weekend who helped us in our research process), tho' of course many of these are so rare that they are not actually available on consumer home video or DVD. There are so many films — this really just scratches the surface.

We Who Are Sexy: The Whirlwind History of Transgender Images in Cinema 

Presented by Susan Stryker & Jenni Olson

                   

Guys in Dresses — Girls in Suits: The Early Days

Judith of Bethulia (1913)

A Florida Enchantment (1914)

Sylvia Scarlett (1936)

Boy! What a Girl (1945)

Kitsch, Camp & The Avant-Garde 
Kaming Mga Talyada (We Who Are Sexy) (1962)
Funeral Parade of Roses (1969)
Homicidal (1961)
Women In Revolt (1971) trailer
Female Trouble (1974) trailer excerpt
Let Me Die a Woman (1977)
Dandy Dust (1998)

Fear & Loathing + “T” & Sympathy 
I Changed My Sex (1953) trailer
The Christine Jorgenson Story (1970) trailer
Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001)
Ticked Off Trannies with Knives (2010) trailer

Verite 
Hilary Swank’s Oscar speech (1999)
Paris is Burning (1991) trailer
Queens at Heart (circa 1967)
Stonewall (1995)
The Look of Love (1996) 
By Hook or By Crook (2000)
The Aggressives (2005)
She’s a Boy I Knew (2008)
No Dumb Questions (2001) 
Just Call Me Kade (2001)

Stuff We Just Love
Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde (1971)
Something Special (1986)
Summer Vacation: 1999 (1988) 
The East is Red (1993)
Chocolate Babies (1997)
Maggots & Men (2009)
Two Spirits trailer (2009)

The End 

Supplemental sampling of interesting titles from the past 40 years: 

Myra Breckenridge (1970), I Want What I Want (1972), The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), Outrageous (1977), La Cage Aux Folles (1978), Victor/Victoria (1982), Yentl (1983), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), Second Serve (1986), Vera (1986), Torch Song Trilogy (1987), Orlando (1992), The Crying Game (1992), Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), M. Butterfly (1993), The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994), The Birdcage (1996), Different for Girls (1996), Ma vie en rose (1997), You Don’t Know Dick (1997), The Brandon Teena Story (1998), Gendernauts (1999), Southern Comfort (2001), The Cockettes (2002), Soldier’s Girl (2003), Beautiful Boxer (2004), Unveiled (2005), Breakfast on Pluto (2005), Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton’s Cafeteria (2005), Boy I Am (2006), Cruel and Unusual (2006), Red Without Blue (2007), Trained in the Ways of Men (2007), Against a Trans Narrative (2008), Prodigal Sons (2008), Pageant (2008), Be Like Others (2008), The Last Summer of La Boyita (2009), Forever’s Gonna Start Tonight (2009).

There are more than a few Transgender films on this year’s festival circuit:

Becoming Chaz (2011), Bob’s New Suit (2011), Gun Hill Road (2011), Leave It On The Floor (2011), Madame X (2011), Miwa: A Japanese Icon (2011), The Mouth of the Wolf (2011), Orchids: My Intersex Adventure (2011), Renee (2011), Romeos (2011), Tales of the Waria (2010), Tomboy (2011).

And a few coming eventually to a theater near you:

Albert Nobbs (2011), The Danish Girl (2012), Pierrot Lunaire (2011)

We are also excited to present our program in Los Angeles — at Outfest, on Saturday, July 16th at 4:30pm at DGA2. 

Please feel free to post any comments or questions below. Thanks!