21/40
An Iranian American trans man travels back in time to an LGBTQ+ archive to understand his sexuality. He encounters his past and present during an erotic journey of self-discovery. This is a documentary about gay female-to-male and female-to-male transgender people. It deals with life after transition, with little emphasis on the transition process. It also deals with those whose physical orientation is male. There are two main subject groups. One is Lou Sullivan, a F-to-M trans activist who pioneered the identification of gay people. He is represented by several excerpts from interviews he gave on television and by the writings of one of the reporters. The other is a series of interviews with various trans people of different presentations and anatomies – one male-identified subject insisted on keeping his vagina. While trans nights in gay bathrooms are a great help, they don’t have to explain themselves. This is wrapped in narrative drama. A male trans Iranian-American (who left Iran soon after the revolution) goes to a queer archive in Chicago to do research and befriends a young, male trans employee. An Iranian “omelette” dish. This hybrid approach added interest and made it feel more than the dry feel of a simple documentary. I saw this as part of a film festival, and actors and directors were in attendance. The director mentioned that the Iranian actor did a short “proof of concept” to solicit funding, and continued to add Iranian touches to the script. The other actor was an activist himself, and he wrote his part with that in mind.