First Person Plural: New & Archival Trans Documentary with Connor O’Keefe

First Person Plural: New and Rediscovered Trans Documentary Shorts with filmmaker Connor O’Keefe
Two recent short films by documentary filmmaker Connor O’Keefe bookend three newly digitized portrait films from the 1960s and 70s, each offering an intimate approach to first-person testimony
(various filmmakers, 1967-2022, 81 min, digital and 16mm-to-digital)

A voice in Connor O’Keefe’s 2021 documentary IMAGINE A BODY describes transition as a process of revealing, of coming into a body waiting to be inhabited. For each of the transgender subjects in the five short films, documentary portraiture offered a space to inhabit their own voices and reveal their story on their own terms. IMAGINE A BODY and O’Keefe’s NO MORE LONGING (2022, 16 min), a profile of transmasculine musician Jaime Jobim, bookend a trio of newly rediscovered and digitized short films from the 1960s and 1970s making their Chicago debut. Québécois filmmaker Ron Hallis’ character studies TONI (1967, 16 min) and RANDI (aka NIGHT SHIFT (1970, 23 min) respectively offer candid testimonies from a drag performer and a transfeminine sex worker, both shot in stark and beautiful black-and-white. Bob Aibel and Lynn Fagan’s NANCY, HENRI, AND ELIZABETH (1973, 17 min), made while its directors were students at Penn’s Annenberg School of Communications, brings together the voices of two trans women at different stages of transition with that of a bisexual man whose performance of gender reflects the fluidity of desire and identity. This will be the world premiere of a new digital copy of the long-unavailable short, restored in 4k by USC’s Hugh M. Hefner Moving Image Archive in partnership with Block Cinema.

Following the screening, Chicago-based transmasculine filmmaker, editor, and educator Connor O’Keefe will appear for a discussion of the films.

FILMS SCREENED:

IMAGINE A BODY (Connor O’Keefe, 2021, 9 min, digital)

TONI (Ron Hallis, 1967, 16 min, 16mm-to-digital, new scan from Library and Archives Canada)

RANDI (aka NIGHT SHIFT, 1970, 23 min, 16mm-to-digital, new scan from Library and Archives Canada)

NANCY, HENRI, AND ELIZABETH (1973, 17 min, 16mm-to-digital, new 4k restoration by USC Hugh M. Hefner Moving Image Archive)

NO MORE LONGING (Connor O’Keefe, 2022, 16 min, digital)

Total run time: 81 min

About the filmmaker:

Connor Lee O’Keefe (he/him) is a nonfiction filmmaker, artist, and teacher. He uses a queer lens to shape the realities captured in his films. He tells stories with people that push the boundaries of what it means to live and share the world with others.

He made his first videos alone in his bedroom, exploring gender through YouTube and finding his identity as a trans person at just 12 years old. Years later, these experiences led to OUR TRANSITION, a personal documentary that tells the story of his transition through the perspective of his parents.

His short film IMAGINE A BODY, an essay film on the spiritual nature of hormone replacement therapy for transgender men, premiered in The New Yorker Documentary Series in 2022. His most recent film, NO MORE LONGING, creates an immersive musical portrait of Brazilian musician Jaime Jobim as he searches for his new voice. It premiered at SFFilm and played at Frameline Film Festival.

He is currently working on multiple film projects, editing, and teaching in Chicago.

Part of the series: TRANS PORTRAITURE

In March 2025, Block Cinema presents Trans Portraiture, a unique film series that explores early and contemporary representations of transgender lives on screen. At the heart of this series is a collection of rare documentaries from the 1970s and 1980s, rediscovered and preserved by Block Cinema after years of archival neglect. These pioneering short films, often created by student filmmakers and circulated in film festivals, medical schools, and professional conferences, offer some of the earliest empathetic portrayals of trans individuals in media.

The Trans Portraiture series will feature these early works alongside recent films by trans filmmakers, creating a dialogue between past and present perspectives on gender identity. Screenings will include discussions with leading curators, critics, and scholars who specialize in transgender film history, enriching the experience with expert insights and contextual exploration. In collaboration with filmmakers and archives from around the world, Block Cinema is restoring original 16mm materials to bring these films to a wider audience for both viewing and research.

This series is supported by the Alice Kaplan Center for the Humanities and The Workshop in Trans Studies at Northwestern.

Host or Publisher The Block Museum of Art