Masc: Trans Men, Butch Dykes, and Gender Nonconforming Heroes in Cinema

January 19–February 25, 2024

Masc is a cinematic celebration giving recognition and dignity to the courageous queer, gender nonconforming visionaries who have blazed these trails and who continue to show the way forward and inspire us all.

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  • The Aggressives

  • Shinjuku Boys

  • Chavela

  • Lifetime Guarantee: Phranc's Adventure in Plastic

  • Max

  • Upcoming
    Films
  • Upcoming
    Events
  • Selected
    Objects
  • Past
    Films
  • Past
    Events

Past Films

  • No Ordinary Man

    Aisling Chin-Yee, Chase Joynt
    Canada, 2020
    Friday, January 19 7 PM
    Jenni Olson, Susan Stryker, and Isaac Fellman in Conversation

    A new consideration of trans jazz musician Billy Tipton’s life story and the media’s response to it, crafted by trans masculine performers and trans historians.

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  • Southern Comfort

    Kate Davis
    United States, 2001
    Sunday, January 21 5 PM
    Jenni Olson and Christoph Hanssmann in Conversation

    Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival, Southern Comfort—produced, filmed, and edited by Kate Davis—tells the powerful story of Robert Eads, a trans man dying of ovarian cancer who was failed by his doctors yet surrounded by his loving community.

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  • Chavela

    Catherine Gund, Daresha Kyi
    Mexico/United States, 2017
    Sunday, January 28 5 PM
    Introduced by Jenni Olson and Marcia Ochoa

    A tremendous, joyful portrait of legendary Mexican lesbian singer Chavela Vargas, told through amazing archival material and interviews with friends, colleagues, and ex-lovers.

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  • By Hook or by Crook

    Harry Dodge, Silas Howard
    United States, 2001
    Sunday, February 4 5 PM
    Introduced by Jenni Olson

    Two unconventional grifters join forces and learn the true meaning of poise under pressure in this gorgeously antiauthoritarian tale of friendship, trust, and redemption cowritten and codirected by Harry Dodge and Silas Howard.

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  • The Aggressives

    Daniel Peddle
    United States, 2005
    Saturday, February 17 4:30 PM
    Jenni Olson and Fresh “Lev” White in Conversation

    This vibrant documentary follows an array of butches, studs, and masc folks of color from the New York City ballroom and nightlife scene in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

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  • Masc—The Shorts

    Saturday, February 17 7 PM
    Bret Parker, Pete Barma, Stafford, Sophie Constantinou, Jude Dry, and Jenni Olson in Conversation

    This celebration of gender nonconforming heroes also showcases a powerful batch of cinematic rarities starring the butch dykes and transmasc pioneers of the early 1990s who blazed the trail for us today (plus a rare 1960s butch home movie treat!).

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  • Shinjuku Boys

    Kim Longinotto, Jano Williams
    United Kingdom, 1995
    Sunday, February 25 5 PM
    Jenni Olson, TT Takemoto, and Amy Sueyoshi in Conversation

    Shinjuku Boys, an amazing mid-1990s snapshot of AFAB gender identity in Japan, spotlights three onabe who pass as men and work as hosts at a Tokyo club.

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  • Lifetime Guarantee: Phranc’s Adventures in Plastic

    Lisa Udelson
    United States, 2001
    Sunday, February 25 7 PM
    Lisa Udelson in Person

    Award-winning Lifetime Guarantee: Phranc’s Adventures in Plastic follows Jewish butch lesbian folk singer Phranc navigating life as a Tupperware lady.

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