There is no doubt that the stories of transgender people have tended to be marginalised and hidden. The new webseries We’ve Been Around attempts to redress the balance a little, with six, five-minute episodes, each of which takes a look at different trans people and their impact.
The series was created by Emmy Award-nominated director Rhys Ernst (producer of Amazon’s Transparent), with the aim of celebrating the previously untold stories of transgender pioneers in history. “With this series,” Ernst says, “I wanted to look towards my own trans history and forbearers to see where I came from and where we’re headed.”
With a dynamic mixture of archival footage, live action, and animation tailored to each particular story, the series moves through history from Civil War battlefields to prohibition era brothels, from the East Village to San Francisco at the height of the AIDS epidemic, telling stories of pioneers who lived authentically – long before the world knew the word “transgender.”
The six films are:
- Albert Cashier illuminates the 19th century trailblazing of Albert Cashier, a transgender man who fought in the Civil War.
- Lucy Hicks Anderson was a woman of color who thrived during Prohibition and stood her ground to protect her marriage rights after being exposed as a transgender woman.
- Little Axe profiles trans man Wilmer Broadnax, a popular gospel singer known as “Little Axe,” and his brother Willie Broadnax, as they sang their way to success from the 1940s to the 1970s.
- Lou Sullivan is about a pioneering transgender gay man and AIDS activist.
- S.T.A.R. follows Marsha “Pay It No Mind” Johnson and Sylvia Rivera’s rise from the Stonewall riots to create a modern day trans movement.
- Amid the punk ethics of the 1990s identity politics, trans activists Leslie Feinberg and Riki Wilchins spearhead a movement to protest the trans-exclusionary policy of a women’s music festival in CAMP TRANS.
Take a look at the episodes below, and find out more at www.wevebeenaround.com.
https://youtu.be/0dduj7IMKL0
https://youtu.be/qyg6TNCLs5g
Leave a Reply (if comment does not appear immediately, it may have been held for moderation)