VENUS OF MARS (Emily Goldberg, video, 2004, 105 minutes)
On stage, wearing a vinyl corset and stiletto boots, s/he’s Venus, lead singer of All The Pretty Horses, a Minneapolis glam rock band with multiple transsexual members. At home, s/he’s Steve, married for 16 years to wife Lynette, an English professor. Born male, taking female hormones, but not planning on sexual reassignment surgery, Venus is a transgender pioneer, living in between gender, in a very public way in the Midwest. Emily Goldberg’s exciting documentary is at once the story of Steve’s journey to become Venus, and an amazing love story of a couple navigating the uncharted seas of their relationship. Given remarkable access to Venus and Lynette, their personal archives of home movies, artwork, and photographs, Goldberg assembles a complex and riveting portrait of an extraordinary relationship.