What to Watch at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival: 7 Film Representations of the Trans Experience

a man and woman on a vespa scooter driving to the right

Through art we are able to experience the world through the eyes of someone else. This ability to widen the lens for society to understand and connect with more of their fellow human beings is why storytelling is so important and essential.

At this year’s Festival, we’re excited to champion filmmakers and fresh stories that open the door to new experiences and spark authentic connections. Some of the most visually striking and emotionally arresting projects within our 2023 Festival slate highlight the transgender experience.

From monochrome documentaries about trans sex workers to sun-drenched memories of budding gender identities, these projects are worth your time, and they are all available to watch in person and online.

A black a white still of a Black woman wearing a white tank top looks off into the distance
A still from The Stroll by Kristen Lovell and Zackary Drucker, an official selection of the U.S. Documentary Competition at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute.

Bigger on the Inside

Director: Angelo Madsen Minax

Section: Short Film Program 3 

Available to watch in person and online 

Through snowy stargazing, flirting with guys on dating apps, taking ketamine (or not), and watching YouTube lecture videos, outer and inner space collapse — to draw a warped cartography of desire and distance. 

Minax also directed North by Current, which was supported by Sundance Institute’s Documentary Film Program. He was also a Fellow in 2021 for the Institute’s Art of Practice Fellowship.

The Dalles

Director: Angalis Field

Section: U.S. Fiction Short Films 

Available to watch in person and online 

This will be Field’s first project premiering at the Sundance Film Festival. In his short film, Cam is used to seeing the same customers while working at his family’s cherry stand. After a handsome cyclist passes through and asks for directions to a local cruising site, Cam takes it as an invitation to follow him. 

 

L’Immensitá

Director: Emanuele Crialese

Section: Spotlight

Available to watch in person and online

In 1970s Rome, Adriana (a measured and mature performance by Luana Giuliani) is a 13-year-old in the middle of several transitions: moving to a new apartment with their family, standing up to their cruel and cheating father, and identifying as a boy — presenting as Andrew whenever able to. Crialese’s semi-autobiographical feature weaves the memories of his own youth as a trans man with the fragile story of his mother, Clara (a powerful and tragic Penélope Cruz), struggling to balance the reality of her abusive marriage with her hopes and dreams for her three children. 

Two men - one in brown and one in a white tshirt - stand in a hallway with bright lights
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Joyland

Director: Saim Sadiq

Section: Spotlight

Available to watch in person and online.

Writer-director Saim Sadiq’s debut feature, Joyland, has the distinction of being the first Pakistani film to be selected as an entry at the Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard section in 2022. Since its premiere, Joyland has continued to garner acclaim for its nuanced depiction of queer love, transgender identities, and the grave consequences of restrictive gender roles under an unyielding patriarchy.

Kokomo City

Director: D. Smith

Section: NEXT 

Available to watch in person and online

In Smith’s film, her first to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, four Black transgender sex workers explore the dichotomy between the Black community and themselves, while confronting issues long avoided. 

Mutt 

Director: Vuk Lungulov-Klotz

Section: U.S. Dramatic Competition

Available to watch in person and online  

In Lungulov-Klotz’s film, over the course of a single hectic day in New York City, three people from Feña’s past are thrust back into his life. Having lost touch since transitioning from female to male, he navigates the new dynamics of old relationships while tackling the day-to-day challenges of living life in between. 

The Stroll

Director(s): Kristen Lovell and Zackary Drucker

Section: U.S. Documentary Competition 

Available to watch in person and online 

First time Sundancers Kristen Lovell and Zackary Drucker’s film tells the history of New York’s Meatpacking District, told from the perspective of transgender sex workers who lived and worked there. Filmmaker Kristen Lovell, who walked “The Stroll” for a decade, reunites her community to recount the violence, policing, homelessness, and gentrification they overcame to build a movement for transgender rights.

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