BAMPFA Film Series Spotlights Trans Masculine, Butch and Stud Protagonists

Though they may not often get shine on the big screen, trans men, butch lesbians and studs have fascinating stories that span time periods and cultures. An upcoming month of screenings at Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA) offers a rare opportunity to take in a diverse selection of films with masculine-of-center, gender-nonconforming protagonists.

Curated by queer film historian Jenni Olson and trans critic Caden Mark Gardner, Masc: Trans Men, Butch Dykes, and Gender Nonconforming Heroes in Cinema kicks off on Jan. 19 with a screening of No Ordinary Man (directed by Aisling Chin-Yee and Chase Joynt, 2020), a documentary about jazz pianist Billy Tipton, who was outed as assigned female at birth and slandered in the press after his death in 1989. The film not only uplifts his musical contributions, but also explores the sacrifices he made in order to pass. At the screening, Olson will host a discussion with premier trans historian Susan Stryker and GLBT Historical Society archivist Isaac Fellman.

Catherine Gund and Daresha Kyi’s Chavela (2017), screening Jan. 28, is another music documentary that spotlights the breathtakingly talented and frustratingly complicated late Mexican singer Chavela Vargas, who influenced artistic greats like Pedro Almodóvar and once dated Frida Kahlo. Marcia Ochoa, co-founder of El/La Para Trans Latinas, will accompany Olson in introducing the film.

Another highlight of the program, Daniel Peddle’s The Aggressives (2005), screening Feb. 17, follows trans masculine folks in the New York ballroom scene of the 1990s and 2000s, where many queer and gender-nonconforming people turn for a creative outlet and chosen family. Mindfulness teacher and activist Fresh “Lev” White and UC Berkeley Professor Mel Y. Chen will join Olson in a discussion.

And Kim Longinotto and Jano Williams’ Shinjuku Boys (1995), screening Feb. 25, follows three trans men (known as onabe in Japan) who entertain women at Tokyo host clubs. A discussion will follow with artist, filmmaker and scholar TT Takemoto and San Francisco State University provost Amy Sueyoshi.

In addition to documentaries, the five-week Masc program includes narrative films and shorts that, taken together, uplift the many fluid gender expressions that have always been here.

‘Masc: Trans Men, Butch Dykes, and Gender Nonconforming Heroes’ takes place at BAMPFA in Berkeley Jan. 19–Feb. 25. Full film schedule here.