Programmed April 2026

Tramps, Troublemakers, and Trailblazers: Trans Filmmakers

Boundary-breaking filmmakers reclaim their stories with these richly varied looks at the trans experience. Long misrepresented on-screen through disreputable and actively harmful images, trans characters have come into focus thanks to a pioneering generation of trans directors determined to capture their lives with nuance and hard-won insight. Curated by Caden Mark Gardner and Willow Catelyn Maclay, authors of the book Corpses, Fools, and Monsters: The History and Future of Transness in Cinema , these revealing counterhistories of cultural trailblazers ( Rupert Remembers , No Ordinary Man ), intersectional portraits of everyday survival ( Drunktown’s Finest , Lingua Franca ), and bold explorations of identity in the online age ( We’re All Going to the World’s Fair , Castration Movie Anthology i. Traps ) show that there is no single, common trans film image but rather a kaleidoscope of voices, forms, and lived realities.