‘Masc’ film series spotlights trans men, gender rebels, butch dykes
qvoicenews.com“Masc: Trans Men, Butch Dykes and Gender-nonconforming Heroes in Cinema” spotlights a tapestry of films that explore the courageous lives of trans men, butch lesbians, and gender outlaws. “Masc,” pulled from the Criterion Channel series, surveys six decades of cinema history, searching for authentic and complex representations of queer and masculine identity that challenge societal norms and provide a platform for underrepresented voices in cinema. “Masc” takes place from Saturday to Aug.
25 at the Billy Wilder Theatre at the Hammer Museum as part of the Outfest UCLA Legacy Project Screening Series at the UCLA Film & Television Archive.
Writer-filmmaker Jenni Olson and film critic Caden Mark Gardner curated the film series. Admission is free. “In our interests and expertise as curators, we both know of so many important films by and about butch dykes; trans men; and gender non-conforming, assigned female at birth folks,” Olson said. “We really felt excited to bring the best of these films together in this series and especially to cultivate the common threads and affinities of these communities.” Jazz musician Billy Tipton, right, spent 15 years touring the Midwest and Pacific Northwest, and eventually shared the stage with many jazz greats.
In the late 1950s, he left music and decided to start a family. After he died in 1989, it was revealed that Tipton was assigned female at birth.
