On Wednesday, December 9 (yes, this is a change from our regular second Tuesday of the month), we continue our series - via Zoom - called Close-Up: Representation of LGBT People in Cinema. Each session features a film (or occasionally a documentary) as the focus of a presentation and conversation. The featured film is advertised well before the meeting with links to where it can be bought, rented and/or streamed.
This month's featured film is Transamerica (2005) a classic American road film with a trans-twist. Just a week before her vaginoplasty, “Sabrina ‘Bree’ Osbourne (Felicity Huffman) learns she has a 17 year-old in jail in New York . Her therapist refuses to sign the necessary paperwork for Bree’s surgery until she faces her past, and so she travels to New York to meet her son Toby (Kevin Zegers) where they end up stranded with no means to fly back to California. Thus begins a cross-country trip back to the west coast which becomes a journey of discovery for both parent and child. The film was well received and garnered professional acclamation with a number of nominations and awards, including Oscar nominations for Best Actress (Felicity Huffman) and Best Original Song (Dolly Parton for Travelin’ Thru). At the Cannes Film Festival Felicity Huffman received the award for Best Actress.
The film can be accessed on Amazon Prime, and while it is not free it can be rented for a nominal cost. Again, the next session of Close-Up will be Wednesday, December 9, and begins at 6.30pm. You can access the Zoom meeting via this link.
