FLAHERTY NYC - Queer Transitions - Filmmakers Tara Mateik and Michelle Parkerson in person

Tuesday, February 2, 7:00pm @Anthology Film Archives Programmed by Lana Lin & Cauleen Smith This series is made possible through a collaboration with The New School. Screening co-presented with Women Make Movies Filmmakers Tara Mateik and Michelle Parkerson in person for a post-screening discussion with archivist and independent curator Leeroy Kun Young Kang. This program looks at a history and present of evolving erotic experiences of embodiment from defiant and empowering perspectives. Each film originates from and reflects upon a specific queer time and space: the Black theater circuit of the 1950s and 60s, England in the early 1970s, present day Kazakhstan. Through their interventions, the filmmakers offer critical and comedic commentaries on gender normativity. Their films are world-making efforts that help us imagine unbounded intimacies where gender is fluid and gender non-conformativity de-pathologized. FILMS: All Women Are Equal Directed by Marguerite Paris (1972, 15 min, 16mm) Filmed in Nottingham England by veteran lesbian filmmaker, Marguerite Paris, this very early and non-exploitative representation of an ordinary well- adjusted transgendered person is historically significant for its treatment of the subject. Also unique is that Paris produced, directed, shot and edited this film, which, unlike their other representations, allows Paula, a male to female transsexual, to tell her own personal story, without resorting to spectacle. Through Paris’s lens, we see Paula fixing her make up and discussing the difficulty of living as a woman and meeting other trans people. The film offers insights into both the time and Paula’s individual psyche. Storme: Lady of the Jewel Box Directed by Michelle Parkerson (1987, 21 min, 16mm transferred to DVD) During the 1950s and 60s Storme DeLarverie toured the Black theater circuit as a host and the sole male impersonator of the legendary Jewel Box Revue, America’s first integrated female impersonation show and forerunner of La Cage aux Folles. The multiracial revue was a favorite act of the Black theater circuit and attracted mixed mainstream audiences at a time marked by the violence of segregation. Parkerson finds Storme in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood, now working as a bodyguard at a women’s bar and still singing in her deep silky voice with an “all girl” band. Through archival clips from the past, STORME looks back on the grandeur of the Jewel Box Revue and its celebration of pure entertainment in the face of homophobia and segregation. Storme herself emerges as a remarkable woman, who came up during hard times but always “kept a touch of class.” Boy Frankenstein Directed by Susana Donovan (1994, 9 min, digital) Using collaged images, text and narration, Boy Frankenstein forms a lyrical critique of the limitations and destructive propensities of the nuclear family–as it relates the story of an individual constructed entirely by the comments and perceptions of those around her/him. Layer Directed by Ruth Jenrbekova & Maria Vilk (2015, 21 min, digital) Layer is a “no budget” amateur style mockumentary short. Its protagonist tells a story of her life-long coming out as an “oviparous person.” The video incorporates some sci-fi elements (concerning human oviparity) with its depiction of everyday life within the largest city of Kazakhstan. Through its use of humor and the quotidian, human oviparity as a mark of radical difference can be seen in relation to the demonization of transgender life in oppressive societies. Maku (Veil) Directed by Yoriko Mizushiri (2014, 5 min, digital) Kyogen Stage/Eye Examination Room/Sushi Bar Counter. There are two people who face each other in each space. Each pair keeps a little distance between their partners and finds some fearful, tender, and comfortable feelings that fascinate them. The feelings are put into practice immediately, and they start groping each others feelings. “Feelings” are sound bliss for all who have a body and sense. Somehow, I try to blend and connect them. I busily pick my feelings from the track of my life and reconstruct by animation to appreciate them. Operation Invert Directed by Tara Mateik (2003, 12 min, digital) Are gender outlaws considered the new biological terrorists seeking weapons of mass bodily destruction? This video draws a comparison between the widely available cosmetic treatment Botox and the role of medical and psychiatric professions in allowing female-to-male top surgery, revealing a connection to the war on terror and to outdated medical assessments. Historical medical assessments of the invert (homosexual and transsexual) “condition” are rooted in seemingly outdated absurdities about outsider deviance. Nevertheless, current institutional loopholes governing gender re-assignment surgery suggest a fresh resurgence of loony pathologies and diagnoses. You can use cosmetic surgery to heighten your gender and reduce signs of aging by injecting a toxic poison in your face, but if you decide to use cosmetic surgery to confuse compulsory gender, your sanity must be professionally ascertained. For filmmaker bios: http://flahertyseminar.org/queer-transitions/ For full series description: http://flahertyseminar.org/flaherty-nyc/flaherty-winterspring-2016/ Flaherty NYC at Anthology Film Archives: 32 Second Ave. (@2nd St.) Please note seating is limited. Tickets available day of screening. Doors open 6:30pm.