It is reductive yet accurate to assert that Chase Joynt and Jules Rosskam first met because they are both trans people who make documentary films. While the alignment of these affinities does not necessarily prefigure a friendship—in fact, many would argue and experience the opposite—they have found kinship in their shared approach to positions as institutionally embedded academics who are also publicly exhibiting artists. Inspired by Michel Foucault’s “Friendship as a Way of Life” (1997) and the cross-disciplinary, conversational theory making of Lisa Duggan and José Muñoz, James Baldwin and Audre Lorde, and Lauren Berlant and Lee Edelman, they use dialogue to extend the intimate interdisciplinary legacies and potentials of thinkers collaboratively discussing social issues. Together, they ask what might be possible in envisioning, theorizing, and enacting a trans cinematic method—a praxis for artists and scholars alike to be in meaningful, mutually supportive, world-sustaining relationships.
Toward a Trans Method, or Reciprocity as a Way of Life
Chase Joynt are scholar-practitioners working at the porous boundaries of nonfiction. Joynt’s latest film, No Ordinary Man, premiered at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival, and Rosskam was named a 2021 Creative Capital Awardee in support of his latest film, Desire Lines. In their capacities as assistant professors at the University of Victoria and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, respectively, the pair keep one foot in academia and another in the arts, asking critical and sometimes contentious questions about disciplinary and identificatory positions. For more information visit their respective website, chasejoynt.com.
Jules Rosskam are scholar-practitioners working at the porous boundaries of nonfiction. Joynt’s latest film, No Ordinary Man, premiered at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival, and Rosskam was named a 2021 Creative Capital Awardee in support of his latest film, Desire Lines. In their capacities as assistant professors at the University of Victoria and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, respectively, the pair keep one foot in academia and another in the arts, asking critical and sometimes contentious questions about disciplinary and identificatory positions. For more information visit their respective website, julesrosskam.com.
Chase Joynt, Jules Rosskam; Toward a Trans Method, or Reciprocity as a Way of Life. Feminist Media Histories 1 January 2021; 7 (1): 11–20. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/fmh.2021.7.1.11
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