Gendernauts: A Journey Through Shifting Identities (HKLGFF 2026)
忽男忽女 (HKLGFF 2026)
- Released
- 20 Sep 2026
- Runtime
- 87 min
- Certificate
- Category III
- Original title
- Gendernauts - Eine Reise durch die Geschlechter
- Language
- en
The verdict
There are not yet enough audience votes to give this a reliable score. It is not currently playing in Hong Kong cinemas. Category III · 87 minutes.
What it is about
San Francisco, at the turn of the millennium. Monika Treut turns her camera on a community of artists, scholars, and performers who live beyond the boundaries of conventional gender, blending technology, biochemistry, and sheer boldness to reshape their identities on their own terms.
Asked whether they are male or female, the gendernauts simply answer: yes.
Made at a time when transgender lives were rarely portrayed with dignity or nuance, Gendernauts remains a landmark of queer cinema, celebrating gender not as a fixed destination but as an open, joyful frontier.
What to expect
Monika Treut’s 1999 documentary drops into a San Francisco scene where artists, academics and performers are treating gender as something you build, not something you inherit. Sandy Stone, Susan Stryker, Max Wolf Valerio and others talk through what it means to use hormones, surgery, or simply a new name to move past the question “are you a man or a woman.” The camera stays close and unhurried; the movie’s warmth comes from letting people explain themselves without a narrator stepping in to translate. Screening as part of HKLGFF 2026. 87 minutes, Category III (18+ only), English-language with Chinese subtitles. A festival-only run — check session times early.
Cast
- Sandy Stone Self
- Susan Stryker Self
- Max Wolf Valerio Self
- Texas Tomboy Self
- Annie Sprinkle Self
- Leigh Crow Self
- Jordy Jones Self
- Hida Viloria Self
- Stafford Self
- Kasim Sulton Self
- Willy Rider Self
- Sister Roma Self
- Tornado Self
- Mo Fischer Self
- Queer David Self
Crew
- Director Monika Treut
- Writer Monika Treut
- Director of Photography Elfi Mikesch
- Editor Eric Schefter
- Producer Monika Treut
Common questions
- How long is the movie and what is its rating?
- 87 minutes. Rated Category III — adults 18 and over only.
- What language is it in? Are there subtitles?
- English-language with Chinese subtitles.
- Can I bring someone under 18?
- No. The Category III certificate means no one under 18 will be admitted.
- Is this a regular cinema release?
- No — it is screening as part of HKLGFF 2026, so only limited festival sessions.
