Transsexuals 1971

Directed by Daniel Landau

In 1971, a group of students in New York City learning how to use the nascent technology of portable video interviewed Deborah Hartin for this documentary short. Having spent 20-plus years trying to conform to life in the body of a man, she followed her destiny all the way to Casablanca to receive the gender affirmation surgery that she had long yearned for and had attempted to self-administer in the past. Along with Esther Reilly (who was recently post-operative) and others in the transgender community, Hartin shares her story, revealing how the procedure had transformed her body, her life and her activism.