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 She’s
a Boy I Knew
By Gwen Haworth
70 minutes, color, Canada, 2007
This film is available for rental at Public Screenings. Please send
your inquiry to info@outcast-films.com.
They say that when someone comes out of the closet, they can't stop
talking about it. Vancouver filmmaker Gwen Haworth not only talked
she made a movie. Using archival family footage, interviews, phone
messages, and hand-drawn animation, Haworth's documentary SHE'S
A BOY I KNEW begins in 2000 with Steven Haworth's decision
to come out to his family about his life-long female gender identity.
The resulting auto-ethnography is not only an exploration into the
filmmaker's process of transition from biological male to female,
from Steven to Gwen, but also an emotionally charged account of
the individual experiences, struggles, and stakes that her two sisters,
mother, father, best friend and wife brought to Gwen's transition.
Under Haworth's sensitive eye, each stepping stone in the process
of transitioning becomes an opportunity to explore her community's
and our own underlying assumptions about gender and sexuality. When
Steven starts to wear his wife Malgosia's clothing, she struggles
with whether Steve "wants to be with me or to be me;"
when Steven changes her name to Gwen, her father comments, that's
"when I realized I lost my son;" Haworth's gender reassignment
surgery, or vaginoplasty, forces her sister Kim to grapple with
her own experiences in the medical establishment and raises questions
about the implications of the medicalization of gender.
In these tender and difficult moments, SHE'S A BOY I KNEW
forces us to question our own assumptions about the role that names,
clothing, and anatomy play in our constructions of gender identity.
As her transition progresses, Gwen is forced to reckon with the
end of her marriage and the loss of her status as son and brother.
But in doing so, she also discovers that while the nature of personal
relationships may change, the love and support present within those
relationships can remain just as powerful and sometimes even more
so.
At turns painful, funny, and awkward, SHE'S A BOY I KNEW
explores the frustrations, fears, questions, and hopes experienced
by Gwen and her family as they struggle to understand and embrace
her newly revealed identity.
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what
they're saying |
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“Honest,
intelligent and absolutely clear-eyed. Unlike most autobiographical
docu helmers, Haworth has a degree in filmmaking, and her
thorough understanding of the medium results in a well-edited
portrait smoothly interweaving talking heads with home movies
while steadily moving forward both chronologically and emotionally.
Humor is another unexpected plus, picked up on by brief animated
segments ("How to Be a Girl," etc.) that provide
just the right amount of leavening.”
- VARIETY
Witty, brave, and vulnerable, Haworth gave
us the most affecting and memorable documentary of the year."
- Vancouver Magazine
"Haworth creates an emotional space
that engulfs the viewer in a way that's extremely rare in
any film, whether fiction or non-fiction."
- Kevin Griffin, The Vancouver Sun
"Rarely does a film live up to its
promotional tagline. She's a Boy I Knew guarantees
to be "...the most compelling DIY, gender bending, feel
good film directed by a transsexual you've seen all year!"
And in this case, I can't agree more."
Sarah Caufield, CJSF RADIO
"A personal story of transexuality,
becomes a tribute to family and in the truest sense, unconditional
love."
Bethina Abrahams, SUITE101.com
"Unique among the slew of documentaries
on changing one's gender, this film blends personal interviews
with gorgeous animation, offering a rich and complex portrait
of the effects transitioning has not just on the individual,
but those around her."
Katharine Setzer, image+nation FILM FESTIVAL
"I loved 'She's a Boy I Knew'
- made with loving care, it dares to reveal an inner journey
without restraint. Beautifully executed, profoundly insightful.
I found myself appreciating it as a mother, a friend, a sister
and a filmmaker."
Anne Wheeler, BETTER THAN CHOCOLATE
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