Documentary About Transgender Musician Jennifer Leitham to Screen During Womenfest and Fort Lauderdale Gay and Lesbian Film Fest
Wednesday, 29 August 2012 10:49 Written by Andrea Dulanto
http://www.southfloridagaynews.com/arts-and-entertainment/film-cinema/7028-documentary-about-transgender-musician-jennifer-leitham-to-screen-during-womenfest-and-fort-lauderdale-gay-and-lesbian-film-fest.htmlOn Sept. 5 at Womenfest Key West, and on Oct. 7 at the Fort Lauderdale International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival (FLGLFF), LGBT film audiences and their allies will have the opportunity to view the award-winning documentary I Stand Corrected.
The film centers on the life of acclaimed jazz bassist Jennifer Leitham, a transgender woman who first established her musical career as John Leitham, and performed with Mel Tormé, Doc Severinsen, and many other jazz luminaries in the '80s and '90s. She also recorded several well-regarded CDs such as The Southpaw. But throughout those years, her gender identification as a female was kept hidden from the public.
After Leitham's sex reassignment surgery in the early 2000s, she came out as a woman. She has received support from many musicians, particularly Doc Severinsen, who appears in I Stand Corrected. She has also had to deal with intolerance. As she noted in an April 2009 interview with JazzTimes: "There are a lot of people who are uncomfortable being in a room with me... I just wish it were possible for the jazz community to be as creative about social issues as it is about music."
