NO ORDINARY MAN

Runtime: 90'

Expected release: August 2020

Budget: CND$750,000 (81% in place)

1st feature: 2nd feature (Aisling CHIN-YEE), 1st feature (Chase JOYNT)

Looking for: Sales agents, funding, festivals

Synopsis:

After being outed by the media after death as being assigned female at birth, the ongoing chronicle of jazz musician Billy Tipton is a tale of conflicting and contrasting stories. By juxtaposing perspectives of trans culture makers with media history and the complex lived experience of Tipton’s son Billy Jr., NO ORDINARY MAN paints a portrait of an unlikely transgender hero.

Director’s profile: 

Aisling Chin-Yee is an award-winning producer, writer, and director based in Montreal, Canada. Aisling was named one of Canada’s Rising Film Stars by Now Magazine 2019. Her feature film directorial debut, The Rest of Us, starring Heather Graham (Boogie Nights, The Hangover), and Sophie Nélisse (The Book Thief) premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival 2019. Aisling also produced the award winning feature film, Rhymes for Young Ghouls, Last Woman Standing , The Saver among others. 2014 marked her year as writer and director with the short film, Sound Asleep. In 2015, she directed the multi-award winning documentary Synesthesia. In 2017, she co-founded the #AfterMeToo movement. In 2018 she was selected in the inaugural cohort of professionals in the 50 Women Can Change the World in Media and Entertainment in Hollywood. In 2019, Aisling received the TIFF Canning Fellowship.

Co-Director’s profile: 

Chase Joynt is a transgender moving-image artist and writer whose films have won jury and audience awards internationally. His latest short film, Framing Agnes, premiered at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival, won the Audience Award at Outfest in Los Angeles, and is being developed into a feature film with support from Telefilm Canada’s Talent to Watch program. Awarded the EP Canada/Canada Film Capital Award for Emerging Canadian Artist, Joynt’s first book You Only Live Twice (co-authored with Mike Hoolboom) was a 2017 Lambda Literary Award Finalist and named one of the best books of the year by The Globe and Mail and CBC.