Executive producer Laverne Cox (Orange Is The New Black) and award-winning documentarian Sam Feder present this groundbreaking study of transgender representation in the media, bringing together trans creatives and activists to deconstruct scenes from cinema through the ages, in order to confront our evolving understanding of gender. This decade yielded the most media visibility in history for the transgender community. But many years of negative stereotypes onscreen and in print have shaped the cultural narrative about trans people, and inform everything from dating and domestic violence, to school policy and national legislation. Since 80 percent of the population have never met a transgender person, all they know is rooted in media depictions.

Leading trans thinkers and actors, including Cox, Lilly Wachowski, Kate Bornstein, Yance Ford, Mj Rodriguez, Jamie Clayton, and Chaz Bono, share their reactions and resistance to some of Hollywood’s most beloved moments. Reframing familiar scenes and iconic characters in a new light, director Feder invites viewers to confront unexamined assumptions, and shows how what once captured the American imagination now provokes startling revelations in how we see and understand trans people. This comprehensive film clarifies a complex topic, becoming definitive viewing, no matter how you identify.—Lucy Mukerjee