I AM MY OWN WOMAN (1992) and COMMUNICATION FROM WEBER (1988) with guest Elizabeth Purchell

Two innovative and unconventional 16mm documentaries portraying transgender subjects who lived on their own terms

RSVP

I AM MY OWN WOMAN (Rosa von Praunheim, 1992, 91 min, 16mm)
COMMUNICATION FROM WEBER (Robert Gates and Lyn Wyatt, 1988, 15 min, 16mm to digital)

The two portrait films in this program expand the language of documentary to mirror the bold creativity and idiosyncrasy of their subjects. COMMUNICATION FROM WEBER (1988), a rarely-seen short film by West Virginia filmmaker Robert Gates, offers a densely layered entry into the world of Lily Sabina Weber, a prodigious collage artist, political thinker, and self-described “radical, full-time third-sex-role transgender person.” Legendary German queer auteur Rosa von Praunheim’s I AM MY OWN WOMAN (1992) offers a similarly multifaceted picture of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf (1928-2002), who navigated the oppressive forces of both Nazi and East German governments to live openly as a trans woman. A historian of material culture, Mahlsdorf transformed her home into a living museum; Praunheim’s film similarly welcomes us into Charlotte’s life story through an inspired and highly personal hybrid of documentary and fiction.

The 16mm print of I AM MY OWN WOMAN presented in this program comes from the collection of queer film historian and film programmer Elizabeth Purchell, who will appear for an introduction and discussion of the two films and her work as recovering and screening works of neglected trans film history.

About the guest:

Elizabeth Purchell is a Brooklyn-based queer film historian, programmer, filmmaker, and the creator of Ask Any Buddy.

She has appeared on over forty home video releases from labels like Altered Innocence, Arrow Video, Severin Films, and Vinegar Syndrome. She programs and hosts the monthly Queer Cinema: Lost and Found screening series at Austin Film Society and the weekly Weird Wednesday series at Alamo Drafthouse Brooklyn. She also co-programs and hosts the monthly queer film series and podcast Cruising the Movies at IFC Center. She was also on the programming team for the 2024 iteration of Frameline.

Her work has been shown at over two dozen international film festivals including BFI Flare, Frameline, and Outfest, as well as at venues like Anthology Film Archives, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and the Hammer Museum. 

Her programming, filmmaking, and research work has also been covered in several publications including The New York Times, Into, and The New Yorker.

Part of the series: TRANS PORTRAITURE

In March 2025, Block Cinema presents Trans Portraiture, a unique film series that explores early and contemporary representations of transgender lives on screen. At the heart of this series is a collection of rare documentaries from the 1970s and 1980s, rediscovered and preserved by Block Cinema after years of archival neglect. These pioneering short films, often created by student filmmakers and circulated in film festivals, medical schools, and professional conferences, offer some of the earliest empathetic portrayals of trans individuals in media.

The Trans Portraiture series will feature these early works alongside recent films by trans filmmakers, creating a dialogue between past and present perspectives on gender identity. Screenings will include discussions with leading curators, critics, and scholars who specialize in transgender film history, enriching the experience with expert insights and contextual exploration. In collaboration with filmmakers and archives from around the world, Block Cinema is restoring original 16mm materials to bring these films to a wider audience for both viewing and research.

This series is supported by the Alice Kaplan Center for the Humanities and The Workshop in Trans Studies at Northwestern.