The documentary "From This Day Forward" explores a family's reactions when the husband begins living full-time as a woman.
The film, which screened at dozens of film festivals worldwide over the past year, was directed by award-winning filmmaker Sharon Shattuck, who first learned her father Michael was transgender when her sister discovered pictures of him dressed in women's clothes when the girls were still in grade school. But the family never discussed the subject, said Shattuck in a telephone interview, "because we were Midwesterners who didn't talk about that sort of thing."
So in 2011, when Shattuck was looking for a subject for her first feature-length film, "I had all of those questions leftover from my childhood." Five years ago, she pointed out, "You didn't see much about transgender people in the media, and I wanted to see more about families like mine."
The Shattuck story takes place in a small town in northern Michigan, where the family moved from suburban Chicago while the girls were in grade school. Michael, who had now become Trisha, was a landscape architect, and Marcia was a physician.
"I'd say I pretty much tried to stay in denial" about her father's gradual transition. Several plastic surgery procedures made his appearance softer and more feminine, and he often wore women's clothes in public, she said. Shattuck recalls one conversation, when she was in eighth grade, that let her know that her father's transition was going to be a permanent change. "Sharon," said her father, "when I walk you down the aisle at your wedding, I hope you won't mind if I wear a dress."
"Mind?" Shattuck said. "Yes, I would mind. I was confused, angry and very upset." Those feelings would change when she learned the secrets her parents never discussed while their children were growing up. "I have an entirely new appreciation for my family."
Growing up in a small town where everyone knew each other, "My sister and I were both absolutely mortified when my father began wearing women's clothes. Adolescence is a time when you want to fit in, and we knew that we were the subject of gossip everywhere," she said. "It was very difficult for me." At one point, she recalls, her parents announced that they were going to separate and ultimately divorce, a move that never happened and also was never discussed. Subsequently, they decided to stay together.
In the meantime, Sharon Shattuck became an accomplished animator and filmmaker in New York City, with credits that include the Emmy-nominated Animated Life, which tells stories of scientific discovery using stringent journalism and paper puppets.
When she began shooting "Day Forward," Shattuck interviewed a number of transgender families. But when she showed clips to colleagues, many encouraged her to make the film more personal, "to put more of myself into it. The problem was that I really did not feel comfortable being the center of attention. I worried that my parents felt the same way." But once she began filming them, "I realized my parents were so funny, warm, and articulate" on screen, "much more comfortable in front of the camera than I had imagined." With encouragement from her team, Shattuck decided to shift gears and make the film "a family story. My Dad was very supportive of my project from the very beginning," she said. Her Mom, "a very private person," was hesitant at first, but became more talkative as time went on.
As the interviews with Trisha developed, Shattuck realized that an important part of the story was Trisha's portfolio of paintings, created after she retired from landscape architecture. "Being transgender is just one small part of Trisha," said Shattuck. "Being an artist was also really important, and I was able to work that into the film. Hearing Trisha explain the meaning of a painting gave me a whole new appreciation of her as an artist.
"Now, as an adult, having intimate conversations on camera about simple things like which pronouns my father preferred gave me a new understanding of what she was going through." Both her father and mother opened up on camera about their decision-making process in deciding to stay together, Shattuck explained. "For me, the film is a love story. I hope that people will see that we're as normal as any other family, just another variation."
That's the way Trish Shattuck sees her life now, too. "I'm extremely proud of Sharon's film," she said in a phone interview. "I'm 61 now, and no longer concerned about being public." Although transgender people "seem to be few and far-between" in northern Michigan, "I have made many good friends, and feel accepted and welcome here. As a transgender person, I always carried a fair amount of fear about where I would be safe. I'm still cautious, but much less so. My own comfort level being a transgender woman improved immensely after I began hormone treatment, which brought about a great feeling of being at ease. I'm in a loving relationship with Marcia, I have a spot in society, and I'm able to express myself through my painting.
"When I hear of people who are struggling with their feelings about being transgender, I'd like them to know that it gets better if you can you find the woman or man within you, accept that person, and let them express themselves."