Gendernauts
It’s possible to interpret Gendernauts as a triple historical artifact. Firstly, as a portrait of a city and its culture: the queer and punk San Francisco of the 1990s, which no longer exists today (it will be addressed in the sequel Genderation, which takes place two decades later). Secondly, it serves as a testimonial to what has changed and what hasn't in queer discourse over the past 20 years, particularly in the language of trans and lesbian individuals. Legendary figures appear here, such as Sandy Stone, the author of the essay The Empire Strikes Back: A Posttranssexual Manifesto, and historian Susan Stryker, who essentially shaped today's trans studies. Transmasculine artists like Texas Tomboy, Stafford, Max Wolf Valerio, and Jordy Jones make an appearance, as well as Annie Sprinkle, a performer and activist for sex workers' rights, to whom Treut dedicated her earlier short film Annie (1989), and Hida Viloria, an advocate for intersex rights. Tornado, Texas Tomboy's chosen mother and Stafford's former lover, also appears shamelessly admitting that she doesn't actually know how to address her loved ones, because she simply doesn't listen to them. The third dimension of Gendernauts as a historical work pertains to its form: who speaks to whom, and to whom do trans and queer characters narrate their experiences?
Monika Treut
Monica Treut was born in 1964 in West Germany. She studied political science and literature, and it was her passion for literature that led her into the world of film. In 1978, she completed her doctoral thesis on women in the writings of Marquis de Sade and Leopold von Sacher-Masoch. Her feature film debut, Seduction: The Cruel Woman (1985), was inspired by the latter's Venus in Furs. Transgressive and non-normative sexuality remains one of the main themes in her work. Since the 1980s, she has run the production company Hyena Films with Elfi Mikesch, the co-director of Seduction: The Cruel Woman and the cinematographer of her later films.
Selected filmography
1985 Uwodzenie: Okrutna kobieta / Verführung: die grausame Frau / Seduction: the Cruel Woman
1988 Die Jungfrauenmaschine / Virgin Machine
1998 Didn’t Do It for Love (doc.)
1999 Gendernauci / Gendernauts - eine Reise durch die Geschlechter / Gendernauts: A Journey Through Shifting Identities (doc.)
2001 Kriegerin des Lichts / Warrior of Light (doc.)
2014 Von Mädchen und Pferden / Of Girls and Horses
2021 Genderacja / Genderation (doc.)