Film: Glen or Glenda

The directorial debut from infamous B-movie auteur Ed Wood, who was posthumously dubbed the Worst Director of All Time, Glen or Glenda is a surprisingly tender, early depiction of a trans woman in 1950s America. Though a contemporary lens finds offensive terminology within this 70-year-old cult classic, Wood’s daring dive into the then-underground world of the trans experience ran at midnight at the Thalia in New York for five weekends in the summer of 1978 and traveled to China, to Belgium as Louis ou Louise, and to Argentina as Yo cambié mi sexo. Decades on, the film remains an imperfect yet significant milestone for trans representation in outsider filmmaking.

DIRECTED/WRITTEN BY: Edward D. Wood Jr. WITH: Bela Lugosi, Lyle Talbot, Timothy Farrell, Dolores Fuller. 1953. 65 min. USA. B&W. English. Rated PG. DCP.