
Masculinity/Femininity

Masculinity/Femininity is an experimental documentary that challenges normative notions of gender, sexuality and performance.
Experimental filmmaker Russell Sheaffer's Masculinity/Femininity takes over where his short film starring James Franco, Masculinity & Me, left off. Shot mainly on Super 8mm film, this is not a typical documentary. Sheaffer asks filmmakers, academics, gender theorists, and artists to present their concepts of gender construction in what works as a sort of performance piece rather than as full-on narrative. In fact, the filmmakers themselves question whether Masculinity/Femininity is scripted or not.
Whether through monologue, visual art, performance art, or storytelling, individuals including B. Ruby Rich, Susan Stryker, Barbara Hammer, John Greyson, Chris Vargas and Yvonne Tasker represent the personal experiences they have had with gender-normative societal constructs. Each performance is unique, but somehow viewers will be able to see something of themselves in each one.
- The Inside Out Programming Team
YEAR
2014
RUN TIME
88m
Super 8mm, HD
DIRECTOR
Russell Sheaffer

Inside Out (Toronto LGBT Film Festival), 2014
Chicago Filmmakers, 2014
University of Louisville, 2014
Purdue University, 2014
International Queer Film Festival Hamburg, 2014
Pornfilmfestival Berlin, 2014
New Orleans Film Festival, 2014
Indiana University-Purdue University, 2014
Indianapolis LGBT Film Festival, 2014
Denison University, 2015
La Fete du Slip (Switzerland), 2015
Atlanta Film Festival, 2015
Imperfectu: Festival of Film and Gender Studies, 2015
MIX Copenhagen, 2015
Oxford Film Festival and University of Mississippi, 2016




