TransGeneration | |
---|---|
Genre | Docusoap[1] |
Written by | Mathilde Bittner |
Directed by | Jeremy Simmons |
Starring |
|
Composer | David Benjamin Steinberg[2][3] |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 1 |
No. of episodes | 8 |
Production | |
Executive producers | World of Wonder
Sundance Channel
Logo TV
|
Producer | World of Wonder
|
Cinematography | Goro Toshima[2] |
Editor | Aleshka Ferrero[2] |
Camera setup | Single-camera |
Running time | 55 minutes (ep. 1) 28 minutes (eps. 2–7) 60 minutes (ep. 8) |
Production company | World of Wonder |
Original release | |
Network | Sundance Channel |
Release | September 20 November 8, 2005 | –
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview) |
TransGeneration is an American documentary-style reality television series that affords a view into the lives of four transgender college students during the 2004–2005 academic year.[4] Two of the students are trans women, and two are trans men.[5] Each of them attends a different school in the United States, and they are each at a different stage of their degree programs. The filmmakers document events in the students' academic careers, their social and family lives, and their transitions.
TransGeneration was commissioned by the Sundance Channel, and produced by World of Wonder. Sundance commissioned the series as part of a concerted effort to vary their programming and revise their image. The inspiration for the show was an article in The New York Times about transgender students at US colleges.
A feature-length preview of the series premiered at the Frameline Film Festival in June 2005, and was screened at numerous other venues before the television debut. The complete, eight-episode series aired on the Sundance Channel from September to November 2005, and on Logo TV from January to February 2006. In Italy it aired on Cult,[6] a satellite television channel. It was released on DVD in the US in March 2006, and on Google Video and iTunes a few months later. That year, TransGeneration won the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Documentary, and was a nominee for the IDA Documentary Award in the Limited Series category.[7][8] The response to the show from critics and other viewers ranged from exuberant to dismissive. In addition, some viewers believed the show had distinct educational value, while others felt that the chosen narratives oversimplified the subject.
A year after taping the series, World of Wonder produced a half-hour reunion show, TransGeneration Reunion.[9] Among World of Wonder's later transgender programs are Sex Change Hospital (2007), Transamerican Love Story (2008), and Becoming Chaz (2011).[10]