This experimental documentary challenges traditional notions of Black masculinity and identity through illuminating conversations with an ensemble of preachers, poets, students, activists, husbands, and fathers. Through overexposed black-and-white imagery, a visceral film grain that embodies the depth of the conversations, and an original trip-hop score personalized to each participant, Kortney Ryan Ziegler’s Still Black: A Portrait of Black Transmen challenges the binaries of race, gender, and sexuality in and outside of the queer community. 


Previously screened at Frameline33 in 2009, Still Black does not claim to define what it means to be Black, or transgender, or male. But it does offer an authentic and too often unappreciated perspective on the intersectional lives of six Black transgender men living in the United States. In a media landscape still dominated by whiteness and a political climate becoming increasingly dangerous for trans people, Ziegler’s film is a testament to the expansiveness of our community. In addition to being entertaining, it gives us all (no matter our background) a chance to learn about the inherent beauty and power of Blackness and transness.