I Am a Woman Now
Director: Michiel van Erp
Cast: April Ashley, Colette Berends, Jean Lessenich, Marie-Pierre Pruvot, Corinne van Tongerloo
Part of: The film will be shown on June 12th in Vienna as part of the identities Festival.

Plot:
I Am a Woman Now is a documentary about the first generation of transsexual women who got operated on in the 50s, 60s and 70s by Doctor Burou in Marocco. Among these women are Coccinelle and April Ashley. The documentary looks at the lives of these women today, as they try to reconnect with the time around their surgery.

I admit that I know practically nothing about the history of transgendered people. So this was a fascinating possibility for me to get a bit of information about it. And it’s generally a very nice look at the topic.

I had no idea that gender reassignment surgery started this early. And if you didn’t think already that transgender people don’t do the surgery just for the hell of it, I think that the idea that these women took the risk of having a (at the time) under-developed and under-studied surgery in a to them foreign country to have their sex changed should be convincing enough. That’s bravery.

And there’s this beautiful scene where April Ashley meets Doctor Bureau’s son and she tells him that his father gave her so much joy that she still feels it every morning when she wakes up: that she can be happy. I swear, I’m tearing up again just thinking of that scene.

But the surgery certainly didn’t solve all of their problems. That becomes especially apparent in Jean, who had her identity issues even after the surgery and who had problems with her hormone treatment as well.

Apart from the surgery angle though, just seeing this women age and how they’ve aged is a new outlook. They are the first generation after all. And they are exceptional people for whom things haven’t really been easy.

Summarising: Fascinating look at an interesting topic.