she's a boy i knew
she's a boy i knew is an autiobiographical documentary by B.C. filmmaker gwen haworth, who interviews her family, partner, and friends about their perspective on her transition. her incisive yet inviting narration pilots the film, engaging in both conversations with those in her life but also everyone watching the film. she offers up a measured and meditative first-hand reflection on the profound cocaphony of emotions and fears that accompany transition and bravely splices a wealth of pre (and early) transition archival footage into her film. animated sequences are used effectively to disarm the audience and bring them into haworth's world which she has invited us to witness.
while haworth is a film prof at a community college and not a newcomer to making docs she is first and foremost an activist. by eliciting empathy and not sypathy, by bringing the humanity and the realness into an experience and an identity that is so fundamentally alien or unintelligible to most, this film is not just captivating and watchable, but is accessible and relevant and meaningful to everyone - cis or trans. particularly because haworth recognizes the need for realistic and humanizing portrayals of trans women (and especially trans dykes such as her and i), what is *most* remarkable about she's a boy i knew is that it holds together in a sweet, coherent, satisfying and accessible way. gwen was able to distill years of footage, insert a very clear agenda, toss in the personal motivation to tell such a story - all of these could have easily caused the film to drag on or dissolve into self-referential incoherence.
yet, one leaves the theatre feeling that this was all so simple to make. and such a story - one that's never been told before - is not a simple story to tell. not when it's your life, not when it's your agenda, not when you're writing and creating - in a cultural sense - your own existential niche.
for me, seeing this film was a life-changing experience. i many respects i feel more real now that something that speaks to my experience so closely has been created - it's there, it's permanant, it... exists.
after its screening this weekend at inside/out in toronto, she's a boy i knew (with director haworth in tow) will be screening at the other 2 large north american queer & trans film fests:
Wednesday, June 11, 5:30 PM, New York (newfest)
AND
Tuesday, June 24, 9:30 PM, San Francisco (frameline)
while haworth is a film prof at a community college and not a newcomer to making docs she is first and foremost an activist. by eliciting empathy and not sypathy, by bringing the humanity and the realness into an experience and an identity that is so fundamentally alien or unintelligible to most, this film is not just captivating and watchable, but is accessible and relevant and meaningful to everyone - cis or trans. particularly because haworth recognizes the need for realistic and humanizing portrayals of trans women (and especially trans dykes such as her and i), what is *most* remarkable about she's a boy i knew is that it holds together in a sweet, coherent, satisfying and accessible way. gwen was able to distill years of footage, insert a very clear agenda, toss in the personal motivation to tell such a story - all of these could have easily caused the film to drag on or dissolve into self-referential incoherence.
yet, one leaves the theatre feeling that this was all so simple to make. and such a story - one that's never been told before - is not a simple story to tell. not when it's your life, not when it's your agenda, not when you're writing and creating - in a cultural sense - your own existential niche.
for me, seeing this film was a life-changing experience. i many respects i feel more real now that something that speaks to my experience so closely has been created - it's there, it's permanant, it... exists.
after its screening this weekend at inside/out in toronto, she's a boy i knew (with director haworth in tow) will be screening at the other 2 large north american queer & trans film fests:
Wednesday, June 11, 5:30 PM, New York (newfest)
AND
Tuesday, June 24, 9:30 PM, San Francisco (frameline)