''Queens at Heart'' is an American

short film A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...

described as both a

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

and an

exploitation film An exploitation film is a film that seeks commercial success by capitalizing on current trends, niche genres, or sensational content. Exploitation films often feature themes such as suggestive or explicit sex, sensational violence, drug use, nudi ...

in which four

trans women A trans woman or transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity and may experience gender dysphoria (distress brought upon by the discrepancy between a person's gender identity and their ...

are interviewed about their lives. It was produced in the mid-1960s. The film was digitally preserved in 2009 by the

UCLA Film and Television Archive The UCLA Film & Television Archive is a visual arts organization focused on the film preservation, preservation, film studies, study, and appreciation of film and television, based at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). As a nonpro ...

as part of the

Outfest Outfest is an LGBTQ-oriented nonprofit that produces two film festivals, operates a movie streaming platform, and runs educational services for filmmakers in Los Angeles. Outfest is one of the key partners, alongside the Frameline Film Festival ...

Legacy Project for LGBT Film Preservation. Andrea James and

Jenni Olson Jenni Olson (born October 6, 1962) is a writer, archivist, historian, consultant, and non-fiction filmmaker based in Berkeley, California. She co-founded the pioneering LGBT website PlanetOut.com. Her two feature-length essay films — ''The Joy ...

were among those who worked on its restoration.

Synopsis and cast

Four

from New York City are interviewed in what is professed to be part of a six-month psychological project. They are introduced as "contestants in a recent beauty contest". The four of them answer questions about their lives as trans women. They discuss having to present as male during the day at their jobs, undergoing

hormone therapy Hormone therapy or hormonal therapy is the use of hormones in medical treatment. Treatment with hormone antagonists may also be referred to as hormonal therapy or antihormone therapy. The most general classes of hormone therapy are hormonal therap ...

, their dating lives, and their childhood. They also discuss the

draft Draft, the draft, or draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a v ...

for the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

. In addition to the interviews, the film contains footage documenting a drag ball. The four women give their names as Misty, Vicky, Sonja, and Simone. Full names are not used, since the interviewer notes the four of them are breaking a law against

cross-dressing Cross-dressing is the act of wearing clothes traditionally or stereotypically associated with a different gender. From as early as pre-modern history, cross-dressing has been practiced in order to disguise, comfort, entertain, and express onesel ...

. Misty works as a bank teller, Vicky works as a cosmetician, Sonja is a hairdresser, and Simone works on window displays. The interviews are conducted by Jay Martin.

Production and release

The film was anonymously made, and its production date is also unknown. The Southeastern Pictures Corporation initially released ''Queens at Heart'' alongside the 1967 film '' She-Man''. ''Queens at Heart'' has subsequently been dated to around 1965 or 1967. In the mid-1990s,

rediscovered the film after buying a 35 mm reel from a Kansas City projectionist for $75. An ad in the film collecting periodical ''

The Big Reel ''The Big Reel'' was an American magazine dedicated to collectors of film and television material—particularly prints and tapes, but also props, stills, and other memorabilia. The magazine was published by Donald R. "Don" Key (July 18, 1937&n ...

'' brought it to her attention. Only a few prints of ''Queens at Heart'' existed, and the original negative has been lost. The film was digitally restored from two prints whose color had faded. The restoration was done by the

for the

Legacy Project for LGBT Film Preservation; it was completed in 2009. The film was the first to be deposited into the project's archive. Funding for the film's restoration was provided by Joanne Herman, as well as the Andrew J. Kuehn, Jr. Foundation and Outfest; Andrea James, Tom Letness, Dick Millais, Jenni Olson, and Kristin Pepe were also involved in the restoration. The restored film screened at Outfest in 2010. ''Queens at Heart'' was screened at the

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the list of largest art museums, 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 painting ...

in 2012 alongside two other films about early LGBT life: '' Mona's Candle Light'' (1950) and '' Choosing Children'' (1984). In 2019, the

IFC Center IFC Center is an art house movie theater in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York City. Located at 323 Sixth Avenue (Avenue of the Americas) at West 3rd Street, it was formerly the Waverly Theater, an art house movie theater. IFC Center is ...

in New York City played it alongside a restored version of the 1968 documentary '' The Queen''. The film also appears on the video streaming platform Kanopy within the United States; it was added to its collection in 2016. ''Queens at Heart'' is a bonus feature on

Kino Lorber Kino Lorber is an international film distribution company based in New York City. Founded in 1977, it was originally known as Kino International until it was acquired by and merged into Lorber HT Digital in 2009. It specializes in art film, art ho ...

's 2020

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

for ''The Queen''. The UCLA Film & Television Archive uploaded ''Queens at Heart'' to

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

in 2021.

Critical response

In the 21st century, it has been variously described as a trans

, a short documentary film, and an "exploitation documentary short". However, critics have also noted it provides a candid look at the life of some transgender women in the time before the

Stonewall riots The Stonewall riots (also known as the Stonewall uprising, Stonewall rebellion, Stonewall revolution, or simply Stonewall) were a series of spontaneous riots and demonstrations against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of ...

J. Hoberman James Lewis Hoberman (born March 14, 1949) is an American film critic, journalist, author and academic. He began working at ''The Village Voice'' in the 1970s, became a full-time staff writer in 1983, and was the newspaper's senior film critic f ...

for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' called it "at once an exploitation film and an educational one, with a tone variously prurient, dismissive, and nonjudgemental". Sarah Fonseca for ''

them. ''Them'' is an American online LGBTQ magazine launched in October 2017 by Phillip Picardi and owned by Condé Nast. Its coverage includes LGBTQ culture, fashion, and politics. History In 2017 Picardi, then the director of ''Teen Vogue'', ...

'' called it "a red-blooded American exploitation film that tries to pass itself off as an expert documentary" and criticized the interviewer but also said the four women's participation "has enormous value for those interested in queer and trans life before Stonewall." Olson has described this as "the most important film" that she found. The film is included among the Staff Picks on Kanopy.

References

External links

* * {{authority control 1967 short documentary films 1960s exploitation films 1967 LGBTQ-related films American exploitation films American LGBTQ-related short films American short documentary films Transgender-related documentary films Films about trans women Drag (entertainment)-related documentary films 1960s English-language films 1960s American films American LGBTQ-related documentary films English-language short documentary films