A cinematic love letter
to trans visibility
This Trans Day of Visibility, Exposures presents Trans Portraits, a curated selection of rare and newly restored films that highlight overlooked trans histories.
Across six documentary and cinéma vérité works, Trans Portraits invites you to meet Toni, Randi, Valerie, Nancy, Henri, Elizabeth, Jo, Matt, and Kelby. In turn, they will let you into their lives by sharing their reflections on identity, desire, familiy, prison, sex work, domesticity, kink and more. Prepare to laugh, learn, and really listen as their lives unfold on screen.
Please note: Though all of these films were directed by cis filmmakers, they still make space for trans intimacy and self-determination. At times their gaze can be exoticising, but the directors mostly step aside and let their protagonists paint their own portraits.
Rediscovering Québec’s Trans Cinema
At the centre of the program are two rarely screened films by Québécois filmmaker Ron Hallis—Toni (1967) and Randi (1970)—which offer an intimate glimpse into trans life in Montréal in the 1960s and 70s.
Q&A with Ophera Hallis
After the screening, we are pleased to welcome Ophera Hallis, collaborator and partner of the late Ron Hallis, for a special discussion on the making and legacy of Toni (1967) and Randi (1970).
Full program
TONI & RANDI
Ron Hallis | 1967 & 1970 | Quebec | 16 min | ENG, no sub
Two intimate portraits: a drag performer and a transfeminine sex worker navigating life in 1960s-1970s Montréal.
NANCY, HENRI & ELIZABETH
Bob Aibel & Lynn Fagan | 1973 | US | 17 min | ENG, no sub
This film brings together the voices of two trans women at different stages of transition with that of a bisexual man whose performance of gender reflects the fluidity of his desire and identity. This will be the Canadian premiere of a newly restored copy of this long-unavailable short.
VALERIE
Joseph Horning | 1975 | US | 14 min | ENG, no sub
A cinéma vérité portrait of a Black trans sex worker in Ohio reflecting on survival, incarceration, and hope.
BOYS IN THE BACKYARD
Annette Kennerley | 1997 | UK | 22 min | ENG, no sub
A candid conversation between two transmasculine people on love, identity, and everyday life.
KELBY
Annette Kennerley | 1997 | AUS | 20 min | ENG, no sub
An intimate documentary with Kelby shot in Sydney, Australia in 1996. Born intersex, he talks about his work, dating life, and the process of becoming the person he is now.
Trans Portraits was made possible through the SHARE Micro-Grant from the Quebec Anglophone Heritage Network (QAHN) and Canadian Heritage
