Film Description:
"For decades, the life of American Jazz musician Billy Tipton was framed as the story of an ambitious woman passing as a man in pursuit of a music career. In No Ordinary Man, Tipton's story is re-imagined and performed by trans artists as they collectively paint a portrait of an unlikely hero. Together, the filmmakers join Tipton's son Billy Jr. to reckon with a complicated and contested legacy: how do you tell the story of someone who was hiding in plain sight yet desperate to be seen? No Ordinary Man features leading voices in the trans community, including Marquise Vilsón, Scott Turner Schofield, Susan Stryker, C. Riley Snorton, and Thomas Page McBee, among others."
-- Les Films du 3 Mars
(source)
Film Description:
"Revered jazz musician Billy Tipton gained fame throughout the United States in the 1940s and '50s. His trans identity was not known throughout the echelons of the jazz and pop worlds, and it wasn't revealed publicly until after his death in 1989. For decades, Tipton was portrayed as an ambitious woman 'passing' as a man in pursuit of a music career at a time when the industry was dominated by men and trans representation was virtually non-existent. Since then, he has become a foundational icon of transmasculinity. Aisling Chin-Yee and Chase Joynt's brilliantly crafted No Ordinary Man maps out Tipton's undeniable legacy, while examining the disgraceful media scrutiny and questions of legitimacy his family endured after his death. This thoughtful, timely documentary embraces the challenge of bringing Tipton's words to life, reimagining his narrative through a diverse group of contemporary trans performers as they collectively paint a portrait of an unlikely hero. Revealing their own stories of transitioning and laying bare their personal journeys, each individual reckons with their own singular path towards self-recognition, creating a unique tapestry of trans expression as we've never seen it before. [...]"
-- Ravi Srinivasan
(source)
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