Rooftop Films: Trinidad (Event Over)

Tues., September 16, 2008

Trinidad
40 years ago, Dr. Stanley Biber transformed a sleepy mining town in Colorado into The Sex Change Capital of The World.

Venue: Solar One
Address: Along the East River at Solar One

Directions: 6 Train to 23rd Street and walk East to the river, or B23 Bus all the way East.

8:30PM: Sound Fix presents live music by Frances
9:00PM: Films

10:30PM: Free open bar after party courtesy of Radeberger pilsner
Admission: FREE
Preview: See short films from this and other programs at www.IFC.com
Presented in partnership with: The Independent Feature Project, IFC.com, New York magazine.

PROGRAM NOTES:
Dr. Stanley Biber began conducting genital-reassignment surgeries in Trinidad, Colorado in the 1960’s. Since then, thousands of patients have passed through Trinidad, and the once prosperous—and still socially conservative-- town is now commonly known as the “Sex Change Capital of the World.” Accomplished cinematographer and longtime Rooftop alumnus PJ Raval returns with this charming debut feature documentary about a tiny town dealing whose identity is now permanently in flux. The film was partially supported by the Rooftop Filmmakers Fund.

Biber, a veteran surgeon returning from Korea, decided to move to Trinidad because he had heard that the town needed a surgeon. In 1969 a local social worker asked him if he would perform the surgery for her, which he learned by consulting diagrams from journals and textbooks. Biber attained a reputation as a good surgeon at a time when very few doctors performed the operations, and over time word spread throughout the gay and transgender community all across the country. At his peak, Biber was performing roughly four sex change operations a day, and the term "taking a trip to Trinidad" became a euphemism for some seeking the procedures he offered.

Trinidad's reputation as the sex change capital has been uncomfortable for some residents, as it is otherwise a socially conservative small town. However, the revenue brought in by Biber was important to keeping the local hospital running, and Biber was himself a respected community leader.

After Biber's death, his practice was handed over to his former patient, Dr. Marci Bowers, who has enhanced the procedure to near perfection. This compassionate and compelling documentary follows Bowers and two of her patients, both at different stages of their sexual transformation from male to female, as they struggle with the intolerance of small-town morals and the challenge of reconciling their new personas with the expectations of their spouses and children. It's a delicate transition for everyone involved—the women themselves, their families, and their adopted community, which is still struggling to accept the fact that the economic growth from this new industry is the only thing keeping Trinidad on the map.

Screens With:
One Skin (Gudrun Cram-Drach | Los Angeles | 10:16)
Mary is confronted by different options for her future— independence at a cost or the confinement of traditional roles. In her efforts to rise above these limiting scenarios, Mary is offered a glimpse of freedom in the bird she seeks as well as a potential solution in the actions of a rebellious little girl.

About the Rooftop Filmmakers Fund:
Rooftop Films commits $1 of every ticket sold and every film submission fee to fund new productions, an innovative approach to the exhibition/production cycle which uses the support of our community to produce dynamic films. This year, we will be screening a number of films we co-funded, including Trinidad, Benh Zeitlin's award-winning short film "Glory at Sea" (June 12), a post-Katrina shipwreck epic; and an excerpt from Fabio Wuytack's upcoming feature "Persona Non Grata" (June 14), about his father, a radical left-wing missionary working in Venezuela in the 1970s.

In 2007-8, Rooftop Films will give away over $12,000 in cash and more than $10,000 in services to help produce work by filmmakers whose works have shown with Rooftop Films previously.