Hazel Katz

BABY SIS is a video eulogy to transfeminine ancestors who found moments of euphoric performativity in contexts of exploitation. The project consists of re-edited moving image loops from early transexual porn movies starring Sulka, one of the first transsexual porn stars. An interview with one of Sulka’s old friends accompanies the video to give context to 1980s transfemme experience in Los Angeles.

After 25-year old Sydney is released from the hospital following a major facial surgery, her best friend Kim cares for her at a motel during her recovery. As Kim’s flirtation with the motel manager escalates, Sydney’s resentment begins to boil over. Through intimate moments in their motel room, Sydney and Kim navigate the implicit expectations of their friendship.

BUBBY & THEM is a performative documentary short that tells the story of Je’Jae and Bubby’s relationship, examining how the two femmes support each other, create a chosen family, and learn to communicate about gender.

FLORIDA WATER is a cinema verite documentary that closely follows the lives of David and Boomer, who are residents of Nalcrest, a retirement community about 70 miles east of Tampa, Florida. What should be a period of ultimate ease soon reveals itself to be far more complex as David and Boomer both deal with healthcare crises that force sea-change upon the sunset of their lives.

"Acting erratically" is a term typically used by law enforcement when they believe they are encountering someone experiencing mental distress. This short film explores the connections between freedom of movement and state sanctioned violence in the lives of NYC-based women and gender-non-conforming people of color by critically engaging with the archive and using found footage as metaphorical architecture. A narrative of resistance is explored through the first person by Mecca, who re-appropriates the idea of Acting Erratically as a powerful and performative response to systemic oppression and police violence. This film was made collaboratively with members of Picture The Homeless and Black Youth Project 100 (NYC Chapter). (Tuff Guts, et. al.)

Is the incendiary power of the feminine a path to reveal our true selves, and light the way to a more equal society where care work is valued, the earth is defended, and relationships are based on mutual aid? This work draws on the story of Jane Eyre to tie a thread between trans-femininity and destructive wildfires in Southern California.

WHO GETS TO FLY is a multichannel video installation meandering through a cultural history of birds. The project examines the primary human-avian contradiction, that birds are deployed as both symbols of settler empire and emblems of anti-colonial resistance.

WHO GETS TO DIE is an essay film about death and dying in pop culture, prison, and the films of Hilary Swank.