Directed by Harrod Blank and Sjoerd Djik • 2019 • United States
When Albuquerque’s Rusty Tidenberg, auto mechanic and drag-racing aficionado, came out as transgender, she began a remarkable personal journey through identity and self-discovery. Followed for eight years by filmmaker Harrod Blank (son of Les Blank), Rusty guides us through the aftermath of her transition, as growing acceptance among her straight-talking Southwest community still doesn’t ease her romantic and professional woes. Interwoven with lively tales of gender-nonconforming individuals in the art-car community of which Blank is a part, WHY CAN’T I BE ME? AROUND YOU is a sensitive and unpredictable love letter to people who fight to be unapologetically themselves.
Up Next in Meet Harrod Blank
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Wild Wheels
Directed by Harrod Blank • 1992 • United States
WILD WHEELS is filmmaker Harrod Blank’s comic and revealing exploration of art cars —customized automobiles that reflect the individualistic spirit of their drivers. Traveling across the U.S. in his own wildly decorated VW bug, Blank discovers a me...
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This Ain’t No Mouse Music
Directed by Maureen Gosling and Chris Simon • 2013 • United States
THIS AIN’T NO MOUSE MUSIC! is a vivid portrait of Chris Strachwitz, the obsessive sonic sleuth who founded the legendary music label Arhoolie Records to bring blues, Cajun, Tejano, zydeco, folk, and other forms of American roots ...
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Stoney Knows How
Directed by Bruce “Pacho” Lane and Alan Govenar • 1981 • United States
Meet Leonard St. Clair, a.k.a. Stoney: a paraplegic little person, a carnival sword-swallower as a child, and a tattoo artist since 1928, he is a font of strange and incredible tales about the art of tattooing and other unrel...
