By Gary M. Kramer–
Local film curator Jenni Olson has assembled another program of Trans Masc films that will screen January 17 through February 23 at BAMPFA (Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive) in Berkeley.
The series opens with Paul B. Preciado’s celebrated documentary, Orlando, My Political Biography (2023; January 17, 7 pm). “Freely adapted” from Virginia Woolf’s 1928 novel, Orlando: A Biography, this film features twenty interviewees recounting a collective history of their trans experiences. The subjects read from Woolf’s book and talk about their non-binary identities and gender dysphoria. They meet with a psychiatrist (portrayed by Frédéric Pierrot), have surgeries, take hormones, and discuss other health issues. The various episodes reflect and illuminate the trans experience, destigmatizing it while also calling attention to oppression, inequality, colonialism, and the patriarchy. This is a cogent documentary about how members of the trans community want and need to be seen.
Stranger Inside (2001; January 19, 5 pm) is out director Cheryl Dunye’s riveting sophomore feature, made for HBO, about 18-year-old Treasure (Yolonda Ross) being transferred to the State Women’s Facility. Once inside the penitentiary, she hopes to meet Brownie (Davenia McFadden), her mother, whom she has never known. As Treasure navigates life inside, her initial meeting with Brownie is fraught. Eventually, the two butch women bond—Brownie inks a matching tattoo on Treasure’s arm—and Treasure wants to move into Brownie’s cell. However, situations, such as trouble with Kit (Rain Phoenix), Brownie’s “adopted” in prison daughter, spark episodes of violence that have consequences. Stranger Inside makes the mama drama compelling because Ross and McFadden are both superb. The film also provides insights about race and women in prison that add texture and shading to the story. Dunye will appear in person for a post-screening talkback.
Vera (1986; January 29, 7 pm) is a sensitive portrait of transmaculine Vera renamed Bauer (Ana Beatriz Nogueira), who was raised in an orphanage. (Scenes depict Bauer’s experiences that range from tough to tender, including a request for Bauer to “stop the tomboy business.”) Now 18, Bauer gets a job with the help of Professor Paulo (Raul Cortez), who warns Bauer that folks may show prejudices because of Bauer’s gender identity. At work, Bauer falls for Clara (Aida Leiner) and dedicates a poem to her. However, Clara, a single mother, is not queer. Yet things become complicated as Bauer expresses jealousy when Clara connects with a man, or during a moment of intimacy, when Clara unbinds Bauer’s breasts. Vera is a slow, stylized film that shows the difficulties its transmasculine title character faces. When Bauer claims he is “fed up,” it is quite powerful. This landmark Brazilian film was ahead of its time.
Pariah (2011; February 6, 7 pm) is out writer/director Dee Rees’ outstanding feature debut based on her 2007 short of the same name. Alike (Adepero Oduye) is a teenager who hides her AG (aggressive) butch identity from her religious mother Audrey (Kim Wayans), while also grappling with her desires for her classmate, Bina (Aasha Davis). The dazzling cinematography reinforces images of Alike’s gender, sexuality, and identity, and Rees allows her characters to have quiet, revealing moments. The drama comes to a head in a searing, shattering episode with Alike and her mother, but Alike’s articulation of her desires and frustrations never seem cliché. Rees shows incredible sensitivity as a filmmaker and Oduye delivers an incandescent performance.
Summer Vacation 1999 (1988; February 14, 7 pm) is a hothouse Japanese drama set in and around an empty boys’ school. Significantly, all the male roles are played by young girls, which adds an extra layer of meaning when one character expresses his fears about not being able to live authentically. The film opens with Yu (Eri Miyajima) committing suicide because he is smitten with Kazuhiko (Tomoko Ôtakara), who does not love him back. When Kaoru (Miyajima in a double role) arrives as a new student, the classmates, including Norio (Eri Fukatsu) and Naoto (Miyuki Nakano), are struck by the fact that Kaoru looks just like Yu and wonder if it is really him. As Kazuhiko is haunted by dreams about Yu, Summer Vacation 1999 presents intriguing ideas of resuscitation and reincarnation. As the characters express their longings and loneliness and discuss how they feel like outcasts, this provocative drama casts a real spell.
Something Special aka Willy/Milly (1986; February 20, 7 pm) is a teen coming-of-age comedy about Milly (Pamela Adlon as Pamela Segall), who wishes she were a boy so she can be taken seriously. After her best friend Stephanie’s (Mary Tanner) brother Malcolm (Seth Green) gives her a potion that will make her “deepest darkest heart’s desire” come true, Milly wakes up with male genitalia and becomes Willy—much to the consternation of her mother (Patty Duke) and the appreciation of her father (out actor John Glover), who teaches him “how to be male.” Willy enters a new school where he befriends Alfie (Eric Gurry) and soon falls for him (creating a gay panic for Alfie). The trans masc plotting provides an opportunity to comically address gender roles, pronouns, and deadnaming, as well as Willy determining which bathroom to use. Although Something Special is dated and can feel a bit amateur at times, this scrappy little film is oddly endearing and will satisfy curious viewers.
Rounding out the program is a non-masc film, Muchachas de Uniforme (1951; February 23, 7 pm), which was unavailable for preview. The film is a rarely screened Mexican remake of the 1931 lesbian classic, Machen in Uniform.
Masc II: Mascs plus Muchachas: Butch Dykes, Trans Men, and Gender Nonconforming Heroes in Cinema will take place January 17–February 23, 2025, at the University of California, Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive, 2155 Center Street, in Berkeley.
For tickets and more information, visit https://bit.ly/3WivEvP
© 2025 Gary M. Kramer
Gary M. Kramer is the author of “Independent Queer Cinema: Reviews and Interviews,” and the co-editor of “Directory of World Cinema: Argentina.” He teaches Short Attention Span Cinema at the Bryn Mawr Film Institute and is the moderator for Cinema Salon, a weekly film discussion group. Follow him on Twitter @garymkramer
Film
Published on January 16, 2025
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