Major! (dir. Annalise Ophelian, 2016) follows the life and campaigns of Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, a 73-year-old Black transgender woman who has been fighting for the rights of trans women of color for over 40 years. Miss Major’s personal story and activism for transgender civil rights, from mobile outreach and AIDS prevention to fighting the prison industrial complex, intersects LGBT struggles for justice and equality from the 1960s to today. With LGBT rights currently being debated across the country, Miss Major’s life is a testament to the fierce survivalism and everyday concerns of transgender women of color, who so often live in the margin of the already marginalized. See the trailer here.
This off-site screening––free and open to the public––takes place at the Walton Theatre located at 30 Gardiner Place, Walton, NY. This event is organized by Delaware County Pride to center black transgender voices during Pride Month. Following the screening, there will be a Q&A via Zoom with the documentary’s subject Miss Major Griffin Gracy. Bushel is pleased to cosponsor this event.
Miss Major Griffin Gracy is a veteran of the 1969 Stonewall Rebellion and was incarcerated at Attica months after the 1971 Uprising. Most recently, Miss Major has served as the executive director of the San Francisco-based Transgender Gender Variant Intersex Justice Project (TGIJP), a grassroots organization advocating for trans women of color in and outside of prison that is led by trans women of color.
Major! has won over 20 awards, including best documentary at festivals such as Outfest Los Angeles, Inside Out Toronto, Wicked Queer Boston, Queer Screen Sydney Australia, Gary International Black Film Festival Indiana, TRANSlations Seattle, Kaleidoscope Little Rock Arkansas, Queer Hippo International Houston, and Out Here Now Kansas City.
The film’s director and producer Annalise Ophelian is an award-winning filmmaker and psychologist. She identifies as white, queer, cis woman, and her work focuses on decolonization and the documentary filmmaking process.
