Release Year: 2006
Synopsis:
In the documentary "Almost Myself" (2006), filmmaker T. Joe Murray embarks on a remarkable journey to explore the complexities of transgender identity, centering the film around an unusual and poignant story that challenges conventional assumptions about gender transition. The film is a rare and deeply human exploration of the transgender experience, featuring key figures such as Judy Kirchner, Rosalyne Blumenstein, Marci Bowers, Holly Boswell, and Kate Bornstein. By focusing on a wide range of perspectives, "Almost Myself" takes a compassionate and unflinching look at the struggles, challenges, and joys faced by transgender individuals, while also highlighting the diversity of experiences within the transgender community.
The origin of "Almost Myself" is grounded in an intriguing discovery. While conducting web research for a potential project, Murray stumbled upon a website titled “Help Me Reverse My Sex Change dot ORG.” The website, created and operated by Judy Kirchner, a transgender woman, became the central focus of Murray’s documentary. Kirchner had transitioned from male to female in her twenties and had lived for nearly two decades as a woman. However, as she approached her 40th birthday, she made the controversial and deeply personal decision to reverse her sex change.
This decision, and the website’s call for financial help to reverse the surgery, set in motion Murray's journey into the transgender community. The very existence of the website immediately piqued Murray’s curiosity, raising numerous questions: Why would someone undergo a gender transition and later decide to reverse it? What does it mean to live as one gender and then seek to return to another? The documentary was thus born out of a desire to understand this decision and, by extension, the broader transgender experience.
