Trinidad

ABOUT THE SUBJECTS…

DR. MARCI BOWERS

Marci is the current leading gender reassignment surgery (GRS) surgeon. Leaving a successful sixteen-year OB/GYN practice in Seattle, Marci moved to Trinidad to “apprentice” under Dr. Biber, founder of Trinidad’s GRS practice, which Marci now runs. Marci’s medical advancements in GRS and her own transgender (male-to-female) history attract a large number of patients who “want to go to the best GRS surgeon, who has also gone through the experience.” Though she performs up to six genital reassignment surgeries a week, she still has a yearlong waiting list.

SABRINA MARCUS

Sabrina founded the transgender-focused Southern Comfort Conference in Atlanta and is an active member in the International Foundation for Gender Education and the National Center for Transgender Equality. Sabrina worked for nineteen years as a Space Shuttle engineer, until 2003 when she was dismissed after announcing she had begun transitioning from male to female. Sabrina completed her GRS with Dr. Bowers in 2004. In 2005 she moved to Trinidad to open Morning Glow with Dr. Laura Ellis. Sabrina is an active member in Trinidad’s Holy Trinity Church: “Without my faith I’d never have had the strength to transition to a woman.”

DR. LAURA ELLIS

After meeting Marci and Sabrina at a Southern Comfort Conference, Laura left a successful practice in Florida to become a family practitioner at Mt. San Rafael in Trinidad. The co-owner of Morning Glow, she left Florida as Brian and arrived in Colorado as Laura. Since she and her daughter, Erin, have lived in Trinidad, Laura has undergone GRS with Dr. Bowers and has inherited many of Dr. Biber’s patients.

DR. STANLEY BIBER

Concert pianist, rabbi, professional weightlifter, trained hypnotist, Korean War MASH doctor, cattle rancher, surgeon specializing in genital reassignment surgery, Dr. Stanley Biber performed Trinidad’s first “sex change” operation in 1969, a few years after moving there. He went on to help found the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association, which gave legitimacy to the concept of gender dysphoria. It also established criteria an individual must meet before proceeding with a “sex change.” With over 5,800 GRSs under his belt, a Southpark episode devoted to him, and a listing in the Guinness Book of World Records, at the age of eighty Dr. Biber passed his practice to Dr. Bowers. Dr. Biber was well respected in Trinidad and the global transgender community. He passed away on January 16, 2006.

MORNING GLOW

Founded by Sabrina and Laura, Morning Glow Recovery is a trans-owned and -operated recovery facility for Dr. Bowers’ GRS patients, where “guests can become the person they want to be with people who have been through similar experiences.” Located in a renovated Victorian home in the historic district of Trinidad, Morning Glow welcomed its first guests in the spring of 2006.

TRINIDAD, COLORADO

Situated on the Santa Fe Trail where the Great Plains fade into the Rocky Mountains, Trinidad, in southeastern Colorado, is home to a thriving GRS practice, burgeoning arts community, and a growing natural gas industry. Land once populated by Native Americans and scouted by explorer Kit Carson gave way to coal miners and ranchers, and then the Italian-American mafia during Prohibition. Now, palatial Victorian homes with indoor swimming pools, a microbrewery, and a Main Street lined with boutiques, antique stores and coffee shops belie the town’s former rugged image.

ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS…

PJ Raval – (Director / Producer)

Named one of Out Magazine’s “Out 100 2010” and Filmmaker Magazine’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film 2006,” PJ Raval is an award-winning filmmaker whose credits include TRINIDAD (Winner Best Documentary Cleveland International Film Festival 2009, Showtime, LOGO), and BEFORE YOU KNOW IT his latest documentary following the lives of three gay senior men as they face the challenges of life and love in their “golden years” (SXSW 2013, Winner Best Documentary Chicago LGBT Film Festival). Slant Magazine hailed BEFORE YOU KNOW IT as an “…exemplary example of a documentary that successfully puts human faces on wider issues…” indieWIRE described the film as “…a crucial new addition to the LGBT doc canon.”

Also an award-winning cinematographer, Raval’s work has earned him awards such as the ASC Charles B. Lang Jr. Heritage Award as well as the Haskell Wexler Award for Best Cinematography. Raval’s work includes the 2009 Academy Award-nominated & Sundance Grand Jury Award winner TROUBLE THE WATER as well as the Independent Spirit Award-nominated ROOM. He recently shot LOVE & AIR SEX directed by Bryan Poyser (SXSW 2013) which is currently in theaters as well as PRIMATE CINEMA: APES AS FAMILY the first film created for a chimpanzee audience (Sundance 2013, Berlinale).

In his spare time Raval likes to try and take small naps and pretend he knows ballet.

Jay Hodges (Director / Producer)

Jay has held many positions in book and magazine publishing, and he is currently a senior editor at Greenleaf Book Group. As developmental director and special programs director at Cinematexas International Short Film Festival, Jay raised funds and produced the music and installation festival sidebars. He also helped raise funding for director Margaret Brown’s documentary Be Here to Love Me: A Film About Townes Van Zandt (2004) and was production manager on director David Barker’s short Seven Days (2004). Jay is currently developing Forever Home, a feature-length documentary about prosecutor-turned–animal advocate Nathan Winograd and his No Kill Millenium movement, which focuses on ending the killing of homeless pets in America’s animal shelters.

Matt Dentler (Executive Producer)

Matt Dentler is the head of marketing and programming operations at Cinetic Media’s new digital rights management unit. He is the former Producer of the South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference & Festival in Austin, TX. He oversaw the daily operations of programming and coordination for the annual film festival and panels. Dentler has participated on panels for the National Endowment for the Arts, the Cannes Market, the American Film Market, the IFP Market, the Florida Film Festival, and more. He has served on juries at festivals including: the Britdoc Festival, the Hawaii International Film Festival, Cine Las Americas, Cinematexas, and more. Dentler also sits on the Board of Directors for the Austin Film Society.

Kyle Hentry (Editor)

Kyle’s feature editing credits include Eric Eason’s Sundance/Tribeca award winning feature narrative MANITO, THE CASSIDY KIDS and the PBS/ITVS docs ARE THE KIDS ALRIGHT?, TROOP 1500, LETTERS FROM THE OTHER SIDE and the in-production WHERE SOLDIERS COME FROM. The SXSW award winning doc AUDIENCE OF ONE was featured on NPR and has played festivals worldwide, including MOMA/Lincoln Center’s New Directors/New Films. He is also the writer/director of the Sundance/Cannes screened feature narrative ROOM.

MUSIC