It’s amazing what a rich filmic and emotional experience has been created by co-directors Aisling Chin-Yee and Chase Joynt in their documentary “No Ordinary Man,” given how little audio-visual material, data and certainty was left behind about their subject: transmasculine jazz musician Billy Tipton, who died in 1989 at age 74.
Tipton was assigned female at birth but presented as a man from age 19, when he began looking for work in the male-dominated field of jazz music. (It’s roundly debunked here that he tried passing as male to gain employment in a kind of reverse “Tootsie” scenario). He lived as a man for the next 50 or so years, achieved moderate success as a performer and bandleader in the 1940s and ‘50s, recorded two albums with his band, had five common-law wives he adopted three sons with his last partner, Kitty Kelly and successfully hid his birth-designated gender from, it seems, virtually everyone. That is until the truth was discovered by a coroner upo
No Ordinary Man movie review & film summary (2021)
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No Ordinary Man, Reviewed: Portrait of an Artist Enduring Transphobia After His Death
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NEW BEDFORD It’s officially Pride month! June is about honoring and celebrating LGBTQ activism, culture and sharing your support toward the queer community.
The SouthCoast LGBTQ+ Network has planned a month-full of activities designed to entertain, educate and inspire the community. This year, amid COVID-19, the network is offering an expansive range of events and activities online and/or in-person.
“We ve come a long way and it s because of other people who really stuck their neck out and sometimes their lives,” added The Network’s President Andy Pollock. “And if we re not doing that, who s gonna do it?”
SouthCoast LGBTQ+ Network marketing director and board member, Kerry Zeida says Pride month isn’t only about recognizing the LGBTQ+ community but by using the month of June to continuing educating the world. “The goal is to have conversations and sort of widen that a little bit,” Zeida said.
by Kevin Ritchie on April 8th, 2021 at 11:00 PM 1 of 1 2 of 1
No Ordinary Man
A documentary by Aisling Chin-Yee and Chase Joynt. Streaming on VIFF Connect from Friday (April 9) to May 6.
There’s a lot of talk about the importance of representation on screen, but
No Ordinary Man sets out to vividly capture the emotional impact of recognizing aspects of one’s own story in the life of another.
The documentary profiles Billy Tipton, an American jazz musician active from the 30s to the 70s who was outed as a trans man upon his death in 1989.
Tipton’s story quickly became a prurient tabloid fixture. His widow and adopted children, previously unaware their loved one was trans, were grilled about intimate family details on daytime TV. He also became a cult figure among trans and queer people.