Documentary
Consider Manhattan a sprawling Hollywood set. Amongst the swarms of people that crowd the streets like extras, Fayaaz Bijli is another face relegated to the background of our visual spectrum. Come sundown, however, and the inconspicuous Fayaaz morphs into the iconic personae of ‘Bijli,’ a voluptuous Pakistani drags queen. Yet beneath the flamboyant stage presence lies a courageous individual who has carved out a unique and cherished identity for herself in a world that has been all too quick to label her as an ‘outsider’. Defining herself as a woman stuck in a man’s body, Fayaaz has spent her life struggling between the polar tensions of male/female, East/West and Islamic faith/promiscuity. This film is a glimpse into Fayaaz’s psyche as she navigates her way through a New York City life.
MOVIE COMMENTS
SIMILAR MOVIES
Auntie
Absolutely Trans Is Beautiful!
Memories Revealed
Gavin Grimm vs.
Aravani Girl
Call Her Ganda
Miss Rosewood
Paris Is Burning
The Sex Changes That Made History
Sidney & Friends
This is an Address
The Babysitter
Transhood
TRANS*CEND: A Journey from Gender to Self
Untold: Caitlyn Jenner
Float
Trans*BUT — Fragments of Identity
Tailor
I Don't Know
Girl or Boy, My Sex Is Not My Gender
SIMILAR MOVIES
Auntie
IMDB 4 | Feb , 2014
After the death of his parents, a gay man comes back to his village to live in his small world of happiness, dreams, sadness and loneliness.Absolutely Trans Is Beautiful!
IMDB 4.2 | Jun , 2017
What does it mean to be transgender? How did the trans rights movement come about? What progress has there been made, and what is there still to be done? Absolutely Trans gives us a detailed history...Memories Revealed
IMDB 0 | Nov , 2019
Over the course of 10 months, a camera travels to Buenos Aires, Argentina and Hanover, Germany to meet with Magalí, María Belén, Ivana and Carla, the founding members of the Archivo De La Memoria Trans Argentina, the first existing Trans Archive in the world. Taking the shape of a photo-novel, the documentary not only recounts the founding members lives as trans women under the Argentine dictatorship (1976-1983), the AIDS epidemy, state repression and mass assassinations but also years of fighting for their rights, sorority and the exaltation of life and laughter in times of death. Filming each one of them is filming them embracing their new role as curators, archivists and historians while a collection of 7,000 photos goes through the filter of their memories.Gavin Grimm vs.
IMDB 5 | Sep , 2017
In 2016, transgender teen Gavin Grimm sued his local school board after its members refused to let him use the bathroom of his choice. He was ready to take his case all the way to the Supreme Court—and then the election happened.Aravani Girl
IMDB 0 | Sep , 2009
Sixteen year olds Palani and Karthik want to become "ladyboys." They're bullied in school and beaten by their families. Their parents would like to see them grow up as normal boys, but they're falling deeper and deeper into the world of the "Aravanis." Loved as dance performers but hated as homosexuals, their stories emblazon the inner conflicts of India's gender culture today.Call Her Ganda
IMDB 5.4 | Apr , 2018
When Jennifer Laude, a Filipina trans woman, is brutally murdered by a U.S. Marine, three women intimately invested in the case--an activist attorney, a transgender journalist and Jennifer's mother)--galvanize a political uprising, pursuing justice and taking on hardened histories of US imperialism.Miss Rosewood
IMDB 3.5 | Mar , 2017
Skin diving with Miss Rosewood. Take a plunge into the dark side of uber-sophisticated New York with performance artist, Jon Cory, performing as Miss Rosewood. She strips to full she-male nudity and shares her passion for her art and shows you just how far she's willing to go to blow your mind. Raw. Intense, and without filters, you'll explore her explicit universe from the safe distance of your plush theatre seat.Paris Is Burning
IMDB 8 | Mar , 1991
Where does voguing come from, and what, exactly, is throwing shade? This landmark documentary provides a vibrant snapshot of the 1980s through the eyes of New York City's African American and Latinx Harlem drag-ball scene. Made over seven years, PARIS IS BURNING offers an intimate portrait of rival fashion "houses," from fierce contests for trophies to house mothers offering sustenance in a world rampant with homophobia, transphobia, racism, AIDS, and poverty. Featuring legendary voguers, drag queens, and trans women — including Willi Ninja, Pepper LaBeija, Dorian Corey, and Venus Xtravaganza.The Sex Changes That Made History
IMDB 0 | Oct , 2015
Sex reassignment surgery is now almost a commonplace procedure, but back in the early 20th century, it was seen as 'science fiction surgery'. When the news broke of a successful first attempt, it was a sensation. This is the gripping story of three extraordinary people: the world's first person to undergo a female to male transition; the former Spitfire pilot who became Britain's first to transition from male to female; and the daring advanced plastic surgeon who carried out these surgeries in the 1940s. Michael Dillon - previously named Laura - had persuaded the brilliant Sir Harold Gillies, the founding father of plastic surgery, to carry out the female-to-male operation that no surgeon in the world had ever attempted. Both then helped former race car driver and wartime pilot Robert Cowell undertake their own transition.Sidney & Friends
IMDB 0 | Jun , 2017
When his family tries to kill him, Sidney, who is intersex, flees to Nairobi where he meets a group of transgender friends. Together, they fight discrimination and discover life, love and self-worth.This is an Address
IMDB 0 | Oct , 2020
Stonewall veterans (including prominent trans activist Sylvia Rivera) and HIV-positive New Yorkers take up residency on the Hudson River piers as cranes raze vacant buildings for a new skyline.The Babysitter
IMDB 0 | Mar , 2020
When Melody was a young child, 20+ years away from coming out as transgender, she developed an obsession with movies. One of her biggest hobbies was acting out her favorite VHS tapes, FBI warnings and trailers included, in front of her parents' camcorder. Mom and dad realized this was an easy way to keep their child busy. Thus, the camera became a sort of babysitter, resulting in dozens of tapes featuring Melody performing in front of the (usually stationary) camera.Transhood
IMDB 5.2 | May , 2020
Filmed over five years in Kansas City, this documentary follows four transgender kids – beginning at ages 4, 7, 12, and 15 – as they redefine “coming of age.” These kids and their families show us the intimate realities of how gender is re-shaping the family next door in a unique and unprecedented chronicle of growing up transgender in the heartland.TRANS*CEND: A Journey from Gender to Self
IMDB 0 | Jan , 2026
In January of 2016, a dozen members of the Memphis transgender community began meeting for a weekly story circle facilitated by Elaine Blanchard. The program, based on the format of her award winning Prison Stories series, was a time for sharing, healing and enlightenment. Thanks to the generosity of The California Institute for the Contemporary Arts, filmmaker Shelby Fuller Elwood documented their journey. All people have a story to tell, and all people long to be heard, respected and valued for who they are, and what they have experienced in life.Untold: Caitlyn Jenner
IMDB 6.5 | Aug , 2021
Caitlyn Jenner's unlikely path to Olympic glory was inspirational. But her more challenging road to embracing her true self proved even more meaningful.Float
IMDB 0 | Sep , 2015
Float is an artistic 4-5 minute film shot completely underwater of trans folks swimming naked set to music by trans musician Rae Spoon.Trans*BUT — Fragments of Identity
IMDB 0 | Apr , 2015
Fragmentary perspectives on Human Rights and transgender (trans*) People in Turkey. What remains at the place where a murder happened? What constitutes trans* life? How to cope with daily violence and hatred? We begin to search for traces. We follow the tracks of resistance and survival. We are collectors of the expelled. We gather fragments of trans* lives inspired by texts of Nazim Hikmet, Foucault, Benjamin and Zeki Müren. Trans*BUT is a documental research study driven by the question: “What keeps you going when all else falls away?”Tailor
IMDB 10 | Jun , 2017
Tailor is a transgender cartoonist that shares in his web page other trans people’s experiences and their challenges in society. Film about transgender, made by transgender crew.I Don't Know
IMDB 3.3 | Nov , 1971
A truly major work, I Don’t Know observes the relationship between a lesbian and a transgender person who prefers to be identified somewhere in between male and female, in an expression of personal ambiguity suggested by the film’s title. This nonfiction film – an unusual, partly staged work of semi-verité – is the first of Spheeris’s films to fully embrace what would become her characteristic documentary style: probing, intimate, uncompromising. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2014.Girl or Boy, My Sex Is Not My Gender
IMDB 6.7 | Mar , 2016
Being born a woman, feeling like a man & deciding to cross the boundary between the genders. That’s the path taken by those known as trans-boys. In San Francisco, Paris & Barcelona, a four-way portrait of Lynnee, Kaleb, Rocco & Miguel, four individuals who embody & explore the fluidity of gender.