"SOMETIMES YOU CAN'T JUST CIRCLE ONE" continued...

In broad terms, "transgender" can include transsexuals, transgenders, transvestites, cross-dressers, bi-genders, drag kings, drag queens, butch women, feminine men, passing women, passing men, gender-benders, androgynes, bodyshapers, bearded ladies and many others. This broad umbrella term can be used inclusively to describe anyone who challenges the boundaries of sex and gender. A more specific definition might draw distinctions among those who reassign the sex they were labeled with at birth, those who live full-time in the gender opposite to their anatomy and those whose gender expression is considered inappropriate for their sex.

At TrannyFest, gender expression and sexual orientation intersect in many films, producing identities that are complex and multifaceted. In the past, FTMs (female-to-male transsexuals) have sometimes been narrowly characterized as butch lesbians with internalized homophobia; according to this argument, FTMs couldn't love a woman as a woman so they decided to change their gender in order to become heterosexual and love a woman as a man. In Trappings of Transhood, however, viewers see interviews with FTMs who define themselves as gay men. Trappings shows that some FTMs choose to take hormones and/or desire surgery, while others choose not to. the film also raises issues confronted by transgendered people of color. Trappings of Transhood embodies the aim of TrannyFest, which is to explore the wide range of gender possibilities and dispel narrow stereotypes.

Yosenio Lewis of FTM International, who is also an interviewee in Trappings of Transhood, says, "My biggest hope for TrannyFest is that the transgenders who are in the closet, who are afraid, who are scared to come out and be themselves, will come to the festival and find themselves, and find the courage to say, 'This is who I am. I need support and now I know where I can get it.' My second hope is that some of the significant others in our lives -- family, friends, partners, co-workers, clergy, etc. -- can come to this festival and feel support and recognition of who they are."

According to Rae Rea, the writer and director of Third, there is a strong transgender and transsexual presence in San Francisco. The issues of this community, however, often are not covered in gay and lesbian film festivals, or if they are, they are covered in one program, leaving little time to explore the diversity of transsexual people. "It will be interesting to see whether this festival will be preaching to the converted or whether it will draw audiences from outside the transsexual/transgender community," says Rea, "and whether there will be discussion in San Francisco afterwards. That would be the ultimate aim of a festival around these issues."

Rae Rea's Third is a film that could easily slip through the cracks, for it is not easy to categorize. Third is "an experimental narrative using butch camp to tell the story of one third-gendered character's escape," says Rea. The film has had an interesting life in exhibition. The title Third, used as a noun meaning third gender (as in "I'm a third"), is defiant of the binary gender system in general. The film, however, was not generally recognized as having to do with transgender issues until Rea submitted it to TrannyFest. Third is also a good example of the "transgenre" character of this festival. When Rea was writing the film, he thought it was clearly a story, clearly a narrative script. However, every other film festival has programmed it in the experimental category. The experience of the film in exhibition mirrors the experience of a transgendered identity. As Rea puts it, "Sometimes you can't simply 'Circle one."

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