Riot Acts: Flaunting Gender Deviance in Music Performance

+ other shorts

Sunday, November 9th |
2:30pm - 4:00pm ODD BOX

Get TIckets

Meet trans musicians through the ages, off stage and on, from the smooth soul sounds of Jackie Shane in 1960s Toronto, to the mumble punk of Edmonton’s Jesse Jams, and everything in between.

Silhouette of a woman in black underwear and gloves standing with arms outstretched between two black booths and a bright light in the background.

Heritage Minutes: Jackie Shane

Pat Mills and Ayo Tsalithaba, 2022, 1 min. 

As a pioneering trans soul singer in the 1960s, Jackie Shane’s unapologetic and authentic presence in Toronto contributed to the local R&B music scene and made her an enduring queer icon in Canada. Courtesy of Historica Canada.

Jesse Jams

Trevor Anderson, 2020, 16 min. 

A young Indigenous musician and his rock band bring mumble punk to the Interstellar Rodeo. A rock ‘n’ roll survival story of a different stripe. 

Cover poster of 'Jessie James', a documentary about a rock 'n' roll survivor from a different stripe, featuring a stylized image of a person with two daisies over their eyes, turquoise filter, pink stripes in the background, and the title in bold white script.

Riot Acts: Flaunting Gender Deviance in Music Performance

Angelo Madsen, 2009, 72 min. 

A “trans-fabulous” rockumentary representing the multi-dimensional lives of transgender and gender variant musicians.

Poster for a documentary film titled 'Note L-Actis: Flaunting Gender Deviance in Music Performance.' The poster features a man playing an accordion, with several film awards at the top, including Best Music Doc at Philly Indie Film Fest, Best Doc at Park City Music & Film Fest, and Best Doc at Reeling Film Fest. The background is a mix of grey and green, with bold black and pink text.

Directors

A young person with short curly hair, glasses, and tattoos, sitting on a black-and-white patterned rug, smiling at the camera inside a room filled with plants and colorful decor.

Ayo Tsalithaba

Ayo Tsalithaba is a Canadian multimedia artist and filmmaker based in Toronto, Ontario.

A black and white photo of a man with sunglasses, a mustache, wearing a floral shirt, standing with arms crossed in front of a brick wall.

Trevor Anderson

Trevor Anderson is a Canadian filmmaker and director of a dozen short films and one feature.

Close-up of a man with a mustache, piercings, and a shaved head, wearing a black distressed t-shirt and silver chains, standing indoors.

Angelo Madsen

Angelo Madsen is a multi-disciplinary artist, filmmaker, and educator.

Pat Mills is a Canadian director, screenwriter, and actor. He directed Lifetime’s first LGBTQ+ Christmas movie, The Christmas Setup.

Black and white portrait of a man with short, styled blonde hair and a beard, resting his face on his hand, looking thoughtfully at the camera.

Pat Mills

Curator

A woman with shoulder-length curly hair, wearing a white polka dot shirt, smiling indoors near a window with a blurred bookcase and outdoor view in the background.

Laura Horak is Professor of Film Studies at Carleton University, director of the Transgender Media Portal, and author of the forthcoming book Trans Cinema: Making Communities, Identities, and Worlds.

Laura Horak