Gender Matters - Transgender Youth

Six short films, including narratives and documentaries, delve into the lives of transgender & gender expansive young adults appear in this collection.

Narrative short Eddie tells the story of a young Latina who's just one of the boys and a VIP in the neighborhood kickball game. But on this particular afternoon, Eddie confronts her sexual and gender identities when an embarrassing moment forces her to step up to the plate. From climbing trees to shooting hoops, Donna Carter's childhood and adolescence was all about smashing stereotypes and glass ceilings.

In the experimental short Tomboy, she explores how following her own dreams and instincts allowed her to become a college basketball star, sports writer, and the publisher of the first ever women-in-sports magazine.

In the honest and compassionate documentary The Bond, the father of a transgender child shares his family's story; what it was like when his child came out, how their relationship has changed and how their bond continues to strengthen. The Bond offers hopeful answers to the hard questions parents face when a child, of any age, comes out.

Animated musical Bikini offers an entertaining take on finding the courage and acceptance to express one's gender with honesty and style.

Finally, Two-Spirit People explores the berdache or "two-spirit" tradition in many Native American cultures, in which individuals who embody feminine and masculine qualities are understood as a third gender, beyond man and woman. Told through powerful personal testimony, archival photos, and clips from Hollywood Westerns, this ground-breaking documentary, one of the first cultural works to revive the term "two-spirit," offers a unique overview of historical and contemporary Native American concepts of gender, sexuality and sexual orientation.