Madsen Minax / USA 2009 / 76 min / K-15
“Rock ‘n roll can win them over”
Riot Acts – Flaunting Gender Deviance in Music Performance is an award-winning documentary about North American trans-musicians, introducing artists from Rap, Americana, Goth Rock, and Piano Cabaret all the way to an indecent nun trio. In between interviews and performances, the artists talk freely about their lives, music and encounters with their audiences. How does gendered performance differ from stage performance?
The director-musician Madsen Minax from the Actor Slash Model group approaches the subject from his own cultural identity. Stereotypical ideas of tragic transgendered outsiders get trashed when the artists perform as their own wonderful selves.
Difficult subjects can be discussed through music, while creating common ground with those to whom transgenderism itself is foreign. The film concentrates on music and artists, whose art is influenced, but not defined, by their gender identity. The result is an inspiring, informative and impressive look at the world of music from a transgendered point of view.
