As we roll into Pride month, there’s a lot of focus on LGBTQ history. That’s a great thing, since it’s a subject that has been woefully neglected for a long time – but it’s important to remember that the story of queer experience didn’t stop (or start) at Stonewall, nor with the AIDS crisis, nor even with the fight for marriage equality. It’s something that continues to be written, right up to this very day. That’s why two new documentaries, both dropping on VOD platforms June 1, should be considered required viewing for anyone who understands that knowing history means staying informed about it even as it happens. That’s especially true when the history being told is trans history – something that, until recent years, has been swept into the background even within the scope of the larger chronicle of our LGBTQ+ community. In the case of both of these new films, that makes them an even more valuable addition to our watch lists. Each film provides a layered, up-close profile of a trans pioneer forging new pathways to acceptance within the rarified environment of an insular professional community where trans inclusion has been far from the norm. In “The Sound of Identity,” the profession in question is one that is usually out of the question for all but a privileged few – but that privilege has little to do with either gender or sexuality, and everything to do with natural talent and ability. It focuses its lens on Lucia Lucas, an opera singer about to step into her first leading role after a decade of building a career and reputation for excellence. She’s confident, gifted, driven, and more than up to the challenge. She also happens to be the first known transgender woman to take on a principal role in the history of professional opera, and the role happens to be one of the most iconic of all time – that of the scheming, womanizing title character in Mozart’s “Don Giovanni,” in a production by the Tulsa Opera in 2019. Directed by James Kicklighter, the film follows Lucas as she prepares for the historic performance while also negotiating the intense media spotlight that accompanies it. There’s extensive rehearsal footage, revealing the self-assured mastery she brings to her work as well as the respect with which she is treated by both fellow cast members and creative personnel – including Tulsa Opera’s Artistic Director, Tobias Picker, a renowned composer in his own right and Lucas’ longtime mentor. Picker, who has risked his position on choosing her for the role, clearly believes in her skill; he’s less sure, however, of her chances at drawing audiences, not just because she is trans but because of the outside-the-box casting of a female singer in a male role – even if she is a baritone. For Lucas’ part, she is determined to prove his fears unfounded. She works as tirelessly in promoting the production as she does on her role, engaging with the community, singing at fundraisers, and waking up before dawn to do phone interviews with journalists many time zones away. The additional strain of all this activity takes its toll on the singer’s voice and stamina, causing concern that she may be undermining her own ability to perform at her best on opening night. This, combined with the Lucas’ impending reunion with long-estranged family members who are coming to see her perform, provides just enough drama to give the movie a touch of narrative. More than any of that, though, Kicklighter’s movie dwells on the world of opera itself. On the job, Lucas’ identity as a trans woman takes a back seat to her work, and the director wisely chooses to devote much of his running time to the process of mounting “Don Giovanni” itself. Because of this, we get to see Lucas the way she sees herself – as an artist striving to be among the best in her field. If that means letting us see flashes of temperament, bouts of insecurity, or the occasional moment of unapologetic ego, so be it. After all, isn’t being a diva part of what being an opera star is all about? On arguably the opposite end of the cultural spectrum is the subject of “Julia Scotti: Funny That Way.” Directed by Susan Sandler, this short but sweet documentary profiles a subject who had a successful career as a stand-up comic for many years before transitioning at 47. It made her the person she felt truly destined to be, but it also meant the end of both her personal and her professional life, as family, friends, and an entire professional community turned their backs on her. Scotti then spent a decade reinventing herself as Julia, teaching classes and finding opportunities to blend her truth into her work as a performer. Shot over a five-year period, the movie tracks her triumphant return to the comedy stage, as well as the rekindling of her relationship with her children, with whom she had lost contact 15 years before. A seasoned pro, Scotti comes off well on camera. She knows how to work her vulnerabilities into her material and diffuse them though laughter, but she also knows when to let the truth shine through without self-deprecating irony. These qualities, which serve her well in her chosen field, undoubtedly helped her through the difficult years after her “disappearance” from the public eye. More to the point, here, is her willingness to use those gifts as a means to open eyes and minds to the experience of trans people, and Sandler crafts her movie to highlight that aspect of Scotti’s persona, creating a portrait of someone who has transcended personal struggles to become a beacon for empathy and understanding – without losing her sense of humor in the process. What’s remarkable about both of these films is that, ultimately, the “transness” of the women at their centers has nothing to do with the work that they do – and yet, at the same time, it is essential.<doc-sep>Armistead Maupin has left San Francisco once again, this time to London. But in the wake of his departure, we have a minute-long trailer for Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City reboot on Netflix, and boy, it is a 90-second weeper — in the sweetest possible way. With a brief narration by Laura Linney, as part of Mary Ann Singleton’s homecoming — and set to Anohni/Antony and Johnsons’ “For Today I Am a Boy” — it makes you feel as blindly and deliriously optimistic about San Francisco as the day you arrived here, whether by car, by BART from SFO, or out of the womb. It immediately erases all thoughts of the current plague of closures afflicting the cityscape, and it subsumes everything HBO’s inferior Looking ever attempted to do while channeling Taylor Mac‘s A 24-Decade History of Popular Music. Would that we could all be as magnificently regal as Olympia Dukakis, who turns 88 in June. In short, this version of Tales takes off from the series of nine books to chart a new future for Mary Ann, Michael Tolliver, Anna Madrigal, and the new generation of people living at 28 Barbary Lane, no matter how unaffordable that fictionalized version of Macondray Lane would be these days. By the looks of it, it’s got its finger on the pulse of gender and sexuality in all their full diversity. But in our sensitive age, people have rightfully griped when trans roles go to cis actors who then applaud themselves for being so openminded, effectively shutting trans actors out of every last part. This is inarguable, but Olympia Dukakis took a risk in 1992 in taking on Anna Madrigal, candidly admitting she knew nothing about the transgender experience, and working with a consultant who’d also worked with Vanessa Redgrave on the Renee Richards biopic, Second Serve. Or, as Maupin put it during a long conversation with SF Weekly in 2017, “Olympia is coming back to play Anna again at Netflix, and I’m sure one or two unknowing people are going to be upset that a cisgender woman is playing a transgender character, and I am ready to tell them to go fuck themselves because Olympia made history when she played Anna Madrigal. … There are great transgender actors out there, and in fact we’re going to have a trans man character, Jake, who’s actually a trans man. But Olympia established that character, and caught all the shit for playing it.” Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City premieres June 7 on Netflix.<doc-sep>The first trailer has arrived for “Tales of the City,” the upcoming ten-episode Netflix limited series which serves as a follow-up to the trilogy of mini-series that ran from 1993-2001 and were based on Armistead Maupin’s books. Laura Linney, Paul Gross and Olympia Dukakis reprise their roles from the previous works. In the new series, Linney’s Mary Ann returns to present-day San Francisco and is reunited with her daughter Shawna (Ellen Page) and ex-husband Brian (Gross), twenty years after leaving them behind to pursue her career. Fleeing the midlife crisis that her picture-perfect Connecticut life created, Mary Ann quickly is drawn back into the orbit of Anna Madrigal (Dukakis), her chosen family and a new generation of queer young residents living at 28 Barbary Lane. The new series is slated to premiere June 7th on the streamer.<doc-sep>Laura Linney is coming home in the first trailer for Netflix's Tales of the City. Inspired by the books of Armistead Maupin, the limited series opens a new chapter of Maupin's beloved story. Mary Ann (Linney) returns to present-day San Francisco, where she reunites with her daughter, Shawna (Ellen Page), and ex-husband, Brian (Paul Gross), 20 years after leaving to pursue her career. In the midst of a midlife crisis, Mary Ann finds herself pulled back into the orbit of Anna Madrigal (Olympia Dukakis) and a new generation of queer young residents living at 28 Barbary Lane. "Did anyone ever tell you how I came to live at Barbary Lane in the first place?" Mary Ann asks Shawna in the trailer. "I read an ad, and you know what it said? 'You'll know if it's right for you.'" Tales of the City is executive-produced by Orange Is the New Black writer Lauren Morelli -- who also serves as showrunner -- alongside Linney, Alan Poul, and Armistead Maupin. Check out the vibrant, emotional trailer above for a peek at the stacked cast, which also includes Charlie Barnett, May Hong, Josiah Victoria Garcia, and Barbara Garrick. Zosia Mamet, Ashley Park, Victor Garber, and Molly Ringwald all recur. Tales of the City premieres June 7 on Netflix.<doc-sep>
“When I first got off the bus years ago,” Laura Linney’s character says of San Francisco, “I had the strangest feeling that I’d come home.” Those are the first words spoken in the trailer for Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City, the Netflix limited series that stars Linney, Ellen Page, Paul Gross and Olympia Dukakis in a new chapter of the popular story. It will premiere June 7 on the streamer. Linney, Gross and Dukakis are reprising the roles they played in three previous miniseries based on Armistead Maupin’s books: Tales of the City (1993), More Tales of the City (1998) and Further Tales of the City (2001). The new 10-episode limited series — in the parlance of our times, you know — adds Ellen Page as the daughter of Linney’s character. Here’s the logline: Mary Ann (Linney) returns to present-day San Francisco and is reunited with her daughter Shawna (Page) and ex-husband Brian (Gross), 20 years after leaving them behind to pursue her career. Fleeing the midlife crisis that her picture-perfect Connecticut life created, Mary Ann quickly is drawn back into the orbit of Anna Madrigal (Dukakis), her chosen family and a new generation of queer young residents living at 28 Barbary Lane. Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City is produced by Working Title Television and NBCUniversal International Studios. Lauren Morelli serves as showrunner and executive produces alongside Maupin, Linney, director Alan Poul, Andrew Stearn, Liza Chasin, Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner. Watch the trailer for above. It’s set to Set to Antony and the Johnsons’ “For Today I Am a Boy” and features a very legit quote from Anna: “There is no better reward in a person’s life than to see a building turn from walls of brick to a nest of warm stories and warm hearts.” Here are some first-look photos: