TransParent
Director Jules Rosskam's thought-provoking documentary
This was the official website for the 2005 documentary, transparent.
Content is from the site's 2005 - 2006 archived pages as well as from other outside sources.
A moving portrait of the myriad experiences of FTM parents, exploring the major issues these parents face in their daily lives. Confronting questions of body, gender, parental roles, and family and societal acceptance, and effortlessly interweaving interviews with home-movie footage, director Jules Rosskam's thought-provoking documentary reflects on the universal connections between children and parents, regardless of gender binaries.
See the trailer at: https://vimeo.com/17411202
SYNOPSIS
Pink or blue. Male or Female. Mommy or Daddy. Categories that we all take for granted are blown wide open in “transparent,” a new documentary film about 19 female-to-male transsexuals living in the United States who have given birth and, in all but a few stories, gone on to raise their biological children.
“transparent” focuses on its subjects’ lives as parents – revealing the diverse ways in which each person reconciles this part of their history - giving birth and being biological mothers - now that they identify as male and are perceived by the world, but only sometimes by their children, as men. The first-person stories in "transparent" explain how changing genders is dealt with and impacts the relationships, if at all, within these families.
This film has a shocking façade - as a story about transsexual parents – but viewers will be struck by its universality. The subjects resonate powerfully as “normal” parents and human beings dealing with issues like single parenthood, teen pregnancy and their children’s emotional and physical development. But through these extraordinary men, the film challenges, like never, before the ways that we relate to one another, particularly within our immediate families, based on gender.
THE CREW
JULES ROSSKAM - Director/Producer/Editor
Jules is the founder of MamSir Productions and has worked in video production and post-production for six years. He is currently the Executive Producer for Dyke TV and works as a freelance editor for corporate and non-profit organizations nationally. Jules has also worked for numerous production and film distribution companies, including Frameline, Richter Productions and In the Life and has previously produced three short films. Curve Magazine recently featured Rosskam as one of ten emerging filmmakers to look out for, and Rosskam's work as a filmmaker was highlighted in the June 2004 issues of Velvet Park and The Advocate.
Rosskam premiered his first feature film, transparent, in 2005 to critical acclaim both domestically and internationally. The documentary explores the experiences of 19 transgender men across the US who have given birth. The film was acquired by Frameline Distribution in 2006, and since then has screened in over 50 film festivals and been broadcast on PBS.
ANAT SALOMON - Co-producer
Anat is an experienced editor and camera person with a range of production accomplishments in sports and entertainment, news, documentaries, and commercials. One of the founders of Israel's Channel 2, Anat's other projects include working with Fox News, ABC, CBS, and WNBC Channel 4, as well as France 2 and other international television networks. In 2000, she was awarded the "Telly Award" for Best Short, and her work has been presented at The New Museum in New York City.
SCREENINGS
UPCOMING
PINK SCREEN BRUSSELS
Thursday, May 18th at 8pm.
For more info go to: www.pinkscreens.org
INSIDE/OUT FESTIVAL TORONTO
Monday, May 22, 2006
for more info: www.insideout.ca
1ST ANNUAL GAY AND LESBIAN FILM FESTIVAL OF TEL AVIV
Details TBA
FLORENCE QUEER FILM FESTIVAL
Details TBA
PAST
LONDON LESBIAN AND GAY FILM FESTIVAL
Apr 1 - 14:00 National Film Theatre
for more info: www.llgff.org.uk
HALLWALLS CONTEMPORARY ARTS CENTER
Friday, March 3, 2006
details to be announced.
Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center -- 341 Delaware Ave, Buffalo, NY 14202
t: 716-854-1694
INTRAA, the Indiana Transgender Rights Advocacy Alliance
February 3, 2006
will be showing transparent during our Reel Gender Film Series on. Admission is free and is open to all. Refreshments will be served and a brief discussion will follow the showing of the film.
information is available on our website, www.intraa.com.
Location:
Unitarian Universalist Church of Indianapolis
615 West 43rd Street
Indianapolis, IN 46208
Time:
Friday, February 3
7:00 pm to 9:30 pm
MARDIS GRAS FILM FESTIVAL
Wednesday, February 22nd
Sidney, Australia
details TBA
THE PIONEER THEATER
Wednesday, December 7th, 7pm
the theater is located at 155 East 3rd Street (at Ave. A) in Manhattan
tickets $9
www.twoboots.com/pioneer
REELING: CHICAGO LGBT FILM FESTIVAL
Sunday, October 7th
12:30PM @ Chicago Filmmakers
PARIS INTERNATIONAL GAY & LESBIAN FILM FESTIVAL
November - Details TBA
OUTFEST
Sunday, July 10th
6:45PM @ DGA2
PHILADELPHIA INTERNATIONAL GAY & LESBIAN FILM FESTIVAL
Sunday, July 10th
7:30PM - The Black Box @ The Prince
NEWFEST (World Premiere!)
Monday, June 6, 2005
5:30 PM - Loew's 34th Street - Theater 9
Manhattan, NY
GO TO: www.newfest.org
SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL GAY & LESBIAN FILM FESTIVAL
Sunday, June 19, 2005 - 1 PM @ The Roxy
GO TO: www.frameline.org
B Roll comment by Daryl Cook: As a media tracking organization, we were following the release of this film and looking for reviews, stories, and news items to include in our reporting. About a week after release, searches "Transparent movie" yielded a first page in Google that had results #1 through #5 that were cheese shops in Brooklyn and Queens. This film was #6 followed by more cheese. WTF! Since when are the marketers of cheese more relevant for a search that has the word "movie" in it? Speaking with some seos educated us regarding the fact that Google screws up a lot. And some of those screwups are crazy, like the one we experienced. But some are actually harmful - imagine a search for your name revealing a 10 year old DUI arrest. Or a business whose searches inadvertently and incorrectly associate it with criminal behavior. We learned how Google failures, creating harmful search results, have destroyed lives and businesses by creating impressions of wrongdoing or guilt by association via their search rank results. So the film got off easy and no real harm was done, but we would still consider this a major problem from a reputational point of view. A lighter view of this disaster is that Google is making cheesy comments behind our backs.
transparent
www.frameline.org/
2005 | Activism / Documentary / Gender / Human Rights / Marriage Equality / Parenting/Family / Relationships / Representation / Social Issues / Transgender / Women's Studies / Youth (18 & Under) | 61m | USA
DIRECTORS: Jules Rosskam
The normative gender binary is broken down in transparent, a documentary about 19 female-to-male transgender individuals living in the United States who have given birth and, in all but a few stories, gone on to raise their biological children.
transparent focuses on its subjects’ lives as parents, revealing the diverse and personal ways in which each parent reconciles giving birth and his masculine identity. Traditional views of gender are further re-examined through the variety of genders the children use to conceive of their parents. The first-person stories in Jules Rosskam’s in-depth documentary explain how changing genders is dealt with and impacts relationships within families.
On the surface, this is a story about the perceived anomaly of transgender parents. However, the film’s true stories are those of typical parents, regardless of gender, as they deal with issues like single parenthood, teen pregnancy, and their children’s emotional and physical development. Through these extraordinary men, the film challenges the ways that people relate to one another, particularly within our immediate families, based on gender.
Reviews and Awards
“…the film certainly makes the case for better understanding and acceptance of transitioned and transitioning people–and all individuals, really…an important platform for considering or discussing issues of gender—especially society’s expected gender roles and conformity issues as well as the treatment of ‘non-traditional’ families…transparent is recommended for libraries and other institutions that have a strong gender studies curricula or audience, and is indeed recommended for audiences that might question the appropriateness of transgendered people’s ability to parent. RECOMMENDED” — EMRO (Educational Media Reviews Online)
“transparent is an extremely important contribution to our knowledge about the lives of transgender people. By dedicating a film to this almost invisible group of FTMs who have given birth, this documentary not only speaks to the broad experiences of the trans community but also provides a fresh angle on the complications about any assumptions concerning genders, sexualities, motherhood, parenting, and identity construction. The mothers/parents/fathers Rosskam interviews share their unique perspectives of their experiences with pregnancy, motherhood, and parenting; their stories vary widely, and Rosskam foregrounds the contradictions in their accounts rather than, as most documentary makers do, editing to achieve a unified narrative.” — Jillana Enteen, Associate Director & Director of Undergraduate Studies, Gender Studies Program, Northwestern University
“transparent puts not just one face but 19 different faces on the issues of transgender lives, rights, and relationships. By showcasing so many perspectives on a specific and complex issue, the movie works as an outsider’s introduction to transgender experiences but it speaks just as smartly to the conversations, debates, and diversity among these engaging, articulate men. An expansive, moving, witty, and unique film.” — Nick Davis, Department of English / Gender Studies Program, Northwestern University
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Sep 22, 2008 | Rating: 7/10 |
Sarah Boslaugh Playback:stl
There can be no better demonstration of the fluidity of gender identity than Transparent, a 2005 documentary by Jules Rosskam.
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