Queens at Heart

About the movie

Produced in 1967, this amazing 22-minute short film introduces us to Misty, Vicky, Sonja, and Simone--four transwomen who are subjected to a six-month psychological project, then grilled about their personal lives by a weird guy in a wood-paneled office who claims to have interviewed "thousands of homosexuals" (and who obviously doesn't understand the difference between sexual orientation and gender identity). This unique exploitation documentary offers a rare, provocative glimpse into pre-Stonewall queer life as it follows the women through their daily lives with a stop to look into a New York City drag ball. They talk about their double lives of going out as women at night but living as men during the day, and about how they take hormones and dream of "going for a change." One talks about avoiding the draft, another about her fiancé, and another about the torment of childhood as an effeminate youth.—Jenni Olson