Queens at Heart – USA, 1967

This short pseudo-documentary offers a rare look at trans life and drag ball culture in mid-1960s New York. The long-obscure film was rediscovered by LGBTQ historian and archivist Jenni Olson in the mid-1990s and restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive in 2009 as part of the Outfest UCLA Legacy Project.

Jenni Olson: “‘Queens at Heart’ was a film that had been essentially lost to us—with nothing written about it in LGBTQ film literature. I’ve unearthed many rare films over the years but ‘Queens at Heart’ is the most significant on every level. As a glimpse at pre-Stonewall queer life, it is truly remarkable. I especially love that it features rare footage of a drag ball, and includes the joyful depiction of gay men—gay men of color—dancing together.

Most compelling though are the interviews. Misty, Vicky, Sonja and Simone are four courageous trans women who candidly discuss their personal lives with a lurid, straight cis male interviewer who claims to have spoken to ‘thousands of homosexuals’ (and who clearly doesn’t understand the difference between sexual orientation and gender identity).

While the interviewer’s creepy, inappropriate questioning is often hard to stomach, the women successfully transcend his tone and come across with an incredible sense of dignity and candor. They talk about their double-lives: going out as women at night but living as men during the day, and about how they take hormones and dream of ‘going for a change.’ One talks about avoiding the draft, another about her fiancé, and another about the torment of childhood as an effeminate youth. Their honesty and vulnerability are truly a gift.”