‘I loved it!’ SF Trans Film Fest’s Shawna Virago picks her 5 fave trans/queer movies

The 29th Annual San Francisco Transgender Film Festival opens Thu/12 and runs through November 22, in-person at the Roxie and online, and includes a kaleidoscopic array of trans visions, from comedy and documentary to horror and speculative fiction. For nearly three decades, this groundbreaking fest has stood as a buoying beacon of trans and queer creativity in the roiling political waters that threaten trans existence.

Festival artistic director (and fabulous country musician) Shawna Virago is obviously a movie fanatic, and we asked her to choose five of her all-time favorites. “These five films have been instrumental in forging my personal aesthetic and values that film should be artist-led and filled with risk-taking, which is what we look for at the San Francisco Transgender Film Festival,” she told us about the below.

“If you’re interested in films that are human made and reject the encroaching reach of digitized culture fueled by AI, then please come out to this year’s San Francisco Transgender Film Festival!”

The Queen (1968)

As a teenager, I was lucky to catch the re-release of the groundbreaking documentary The Queen, directed by Frank Simon, from 1968. It was a revelation! I had no idea prior to it being re-released that the film existed (this was years before the internet). The film centers on a beauty pageant, the 1967 Miss-All America Camp Beauty Pageant. The contestants were, for the most part, on the transwoman spectrum.

The film was catty, competitive, and most important to me—because I was hungry for any information about transsexual life—were the discussions about life lived on trans-femme spectrums. Andy Warhold was a judge. Spoiler alert: Miss Rachel Hawlow, the most flawless of the bunch, wins the crown.

The Watermelon Woman (1997)

I saw The Watermelon Woman in the mid-90s at Frameline. This film is a mockumentary and a romantic comedy. It was the first feature directed by an out Black Queer woman. Cheryl Dunye, who wrote and directed the film, portrays a fictionalized version of herself, a video store clerk who is out to create a film about a little-known Black actress from the 1930s known as “The Watermelon Woman.” It moves seamlessly between the present and the past, and blurs fiction and non-fiction through flawlessly created archival materials. The film is truly groundbreaking. I loved it!

My Own Private Idaho (1991)

Like many other Gen X queers assigned male at birth, I consider My Own Private Idaho, directed by Gus Van Sant a generational touchstone of queer cinema. It stars River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves, who portray street hustlers. There is an erotic undercurrent throughout the film, which apparently is based on Shakespeare’s Henry IV and V, which I did not know at the time and didn’t need to know to be captivated by it. Neither will you.

Bambi (2013)

Besides The Queen, another documentary I was captivated by was Bambi, directed by Sebastien Lifshitz. The film is a profile of Bambi Pruvot, an Algerian-born trans woman. She was a celebrated Pigalle show girl in 1950s and 1960s Paris. It was a profound experience for me to see my trans sisters from this time, and Bambi was every bit as beautiful and compelling as the French New Wave starlets of the day, such Jean Seberg and Anna Karina. I knew nothing about her, and it made me wonder how much trans history is still out there to explore.

Jubilee (1978)

I saw Derek Jarman’s punk classic, Jubilee, on VHS at a friend’s apartment in early 1990s San Francisco. Released in the late ’70s, the film introduced me to trans punk icon Jayne County, who performs in the film. 

The film is grainy, filmed in economically depressed parts of London, and it has a plot that is impossible to summarize.  Nonetheless if you need a fix of punk cinema, this film is for you!  What I can say is Queen Elizabeth I finds herself transported to dismal, rainy and decaying 1970s London. It’s unclear if something apocalyptic has happened or will happen. Everyone lives in squats, look sexy as hell and is engaged in anarchic activities.

The film stars Adam Ant and Jordan, the iconic punk model who influenced Vivienne Westwood and Malcom McClaren. Because this film is about mood and style over plot, we don’t question why the whole thing abruptly ends with Queen Elizabeth and a couple of new friends going back to the 16^th century. The film truly captures the groundbreaking anarchic spirit of the 1970s British Punk scene. It is a must-watch, too, for fans of Siouxsie and the Banshees, who make an appearance.

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