Tien is the first Asian trans man to publicly come out in the Vancouver, then, gay and lesbian community of 2001. In this profound and inspiring film, Tien shares his story as a trailblazing, racialised, transgender immigrant and his journey to discovering his true purpose in life — cultivating and becoming joy.

Becoming Queer Joy

This work by LA-based artist Rhys Ernst invokes the story of Lou Sullivan, trans man and AIDS activist largely responsible for establishing the distinction between gender identity and sexual orientation. Cut with images of Ernst’s own examination of this figure and trans history, the video is structured by the search for and desire to identify transmasculine elders and an intergenerational exploration of gay transmasculine identity. Utilizing interview footage, excerpts of Sullivan’s book “Information for the Female-to-Male Crossdresser and Transsexual," VHS gay porn, and Grindr chats, 

 is a meditation on the life of the late trans man and AIDS activist that explores the bodily intersection of transmasculine gay and HIV+ identity.

 a program of seven videos that bring together charged moments and memories from their personal perspective amidst the public history of HIV/AIDS.

Dear Lou Sullivan

Lou Sullivan discusses his mastectomy. Researched clips from: "Female to Gay Male Transsexualism: I-Gender & Sexual Orientation". 

Lou Sullivan: On His Top Surgery 

Philoctetes lives in a cave on a desolate island: the wartime hero is now a wounded outcast. Stranded for ten years, he sees a chance of escape when a young soldier appears with tales of Philoctetes’ past glories. But with hope comes suspicion – and, as an old enemy emerges, he is faced with an even greater temptation: revenge.

Paradise

The story of Rita Bo Brown, a working-class butch from rural Oregon, an
anti-authoritarian, anti-capitalist, ex-prisoner and member of the militant, underground George Jackson Brigade, active in the 1970s in the Pacific Northwest.

 is a portrait of revolutionary Rita Bo Brown, a white working class butch from rural Oregon who became known as “The Gentleman Bank Robber” in the 1970s for combining her butch style of dress with a polite way of demanding funds from bank tellers. The film moves between everyday moments with Bo in and around her current home in Oakland, California, and historical retelling of the events of Bo’s extraordinary life through interviews with Bo and her collaborators, archival materials, and rare social movement ephemera. 

 weaves together personal and political perspectives on 20th century social movement histories, including queer liberation in the 1960s; militant, underground activity with the George Jackson Brigade in the 1970s, a revolutionary prison abolitionist group; political prisoner support work in the 1980s, and prison activist work into the present day. Bo Brown is a model for how to lead a life of committed activism while maintaining a sense of humor and humanity.

The Gentleman Bank Robber: The Story of Butch Lesbian Freedom Fighter Rita Bo Brown

Andrew and Dale talking about how they met, growing up in the 60s/70s, ways of getting hormones, living on the street, relying on the trans community and how back then the female to male didn’t exist.

Then and Now: Trans Men Share Their Stories

The artist, Anuka Ramischwili-Schäfer has been putting together an archive of their great grandfather’s documents: he was a Georgian Marxist economist executed by Stalin in the purges of the 1930s. The film looks at some of his documents, including the execution papers, alongside a poetic essay on the Caucasus/West Asia/the objectification of the post Soviet.

This is an introduction to a longer piece that is still in the works, which began as a metadata and digitisation research project as part of their Librarianship Masters.

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