Olympia Film Society To Present Trans Film Series In July

It’s a loooooong ways away but it’s always a good idea to mark your calendars for events down the road…the Olympia Timberland Library and the Olympia Film Society will be teamng up for a series of events in July of 2024 that will explore the “history and future of transness in cinema” with a series of lectures and screenings.

It’s titled “Corpses, Fools, and Monsters: A Trans Author Talk and Film Fest” and it’s based on the work of trans film writers Caden Mark Gardner and Willow Catelyn Maclay who have a book coming out in July not surprisingly titled Corpses, Fools, and Monsters: The History and Future of Transness in Cinema. On July 13th the Timberland Library will host a free author talk with the duo and the following weekend of July 19-21, the Olympia Film Society will screen six of the films discussed in the book.

From the press release:

Gardner and Maclay are two of the best film writers working today, and their new book is poised to become a foundational text about cinema and queer history.  Delving deep into the history of trans representation in cinema, the authors examine the earliest trans images in silent film, to the New Queer Cinema of the 1990s, the massive success of The Matrix, to a new era of trans-authored movies engaging audiences today. 

Gardner and Maclay selected six movies to screen at the Olympia Film Society, and recorded a special introduction for each.  Library patrons can purchase tickets at OFS Member prices at the library author talk and the theater box office.  Orca Books Co-op will sell copies of Corpses, Fools, and Monsters at the library event and select film screenings – as well some suggestions hand-picked by Gardner, Maclay, and Orca staff.  During the Fest, the Olympia Film Society will sell merchandise featuring custom art to raise funds for our friends at Pizza Klatch, who work directly to support LGBTQ+ youth. 

To buy the book, being published by Penguin/Random House, go to https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/725695/corpses-fools-and-monsters-by-willow-maclay/ to choose from a list of retailors to pre-order. In Seattle, we encourage you to pre-order from Elliott Bay Book Company (partly gay owned) at: https://www.elliottbaybook.com/item/PFM5yJocsnXIdjLMrtI0Dg

Here’s a list of the events/screenings.

Saturday, 7/13, 2:00pm – Library Author Talk (free) 
Join us at the library for this special author talk with Maclay and Gardner.  Those that cannot make it in-person can register for a Zoom link. 
Friday, 7/19, 4:00pm – The Queen (1968) 
Frank Simon’s The Queen is a lightning in a bottle documentary that captures the pageantry around the 1967 Miss All-America Camp Beauty Contest. Made Pre-Stonewall during the height of the Vietnam War, the rise of gender-affirming surgeries and clinics in America, and nationwide racial tensions, drag legends like Flawless Sabrina and Crystal LaBeija serve as unforgettable figures, highlighting that the significance of these competitions are the furthest from superficial. (Gardner) 

Friday, 7/19, 7:00pm – Tokyo Godfathers (2003) 
Tokyo Godfathers presents a Christmas miracle for its trans lead in this anime classic from director Satoshi Kon. It is adapted from the same source material as John Ford’s 3 Godfathers, but one of these “Godfathers” happens to be a trans woman with a rich history all her own. Kon presents her with desires, failings and heroics—all of which are rare traits for a trans character to have in a mainstream film. (Maclay) 
Saturday, 7/20, 4:00pm – Vera (1986) 
Predating Boys Don’t Cry by over a decade, Sergio Toledo’s Vera is an unflinching look at a young Brazilian poet (loosely based on the real-life trans poet Anderson Bigode Herzer) coming to terms with his trans masculinity in a Brazilian society that does not understand nor respect his wants and desires.  While the film is a product of its time, it was lauded within the trans community and played in early trans and LGBTQ-focused film festivals in the years after its 1986 release. (Gardner) 
Saturday, 7/20, 7:00pm – Crash (1996) 
In Corpses, Fools and Monsters, we argue for Cronenberg’s filmography as a comprehensive source to understand trans visual language and coding. In Crash, perhaps his best film, his transformational imagery moves away from body horror, and into new avenues of erotic kink combining the human body with the crashing of cars. (Maclay) 
Sunday, 7/21, 4:00pm – Maggots and Men (2009) 
Cary Cronenwett’s Maggots and Men was a multi-year undertaking of D.I.Y. cinema that dramatizes the real-life 1921 Kronstadt Rebellion by casting trans men as the group of leftwing anarchist sailors rebelling against Lenin and the Soviet Union. Through making the film in black & white and adopting silent film-style aesthetics, the film serves as both a beautiful, anachronistic, subversive presentation of trans masculine bodies and also a sobering reminder of the struggles for liberation against the state. (Gardner) 
Sunday, 7/21, 7:00pm – Ginger Snaps (2000) 
Puberty is hell. Ginger Snaps was conceived as a horror film filtered through the lens of menstruation at the onset of puberty, but by making it a werewolf tale, this film also finds numerous similarities with trans feminine puberty. (Maclay) 

Library Author Talk: Free 
OFS Ticket prices:  
Single tickets: $13 GA  $10 OFS 
2-day pass: $39 GA  $30 OFS 
3-day pass: $65 GA  $50 OFS
Passes can be purchased starting May 13^th at the OFS box office and at the 7/13 library event. Single tickets are available at the box office for each screening. TRL cardholders can purchase passes and single tickets at OFS member prices. Just show your library card! 

https://olympiafilmsociety.org

Olympia Film Society is located at 206 5th Avenue SE in Olympia WA

Timberland Library is located at 313 8th Avenue SE in Olympia, WA