Katherine and Nick North’s short documentary film, Just Another Beautiful Family, will premiere at the Calgary International Film Festival on Sunday, September 22nd. The film follows their own family of 7, which on the surface looks like a typical suburban family, with a twist: Nick is transgender.
“Our goal is to show people an example of what a happy, loving family looks like with queer parents,” says Nick North, who co-wrote, co-directed, and co-produced the film with his wife, Katherine North. “I’m really not that scary trans person people have been taught to be afraid of. And we want transgender kids and their parents to see that they can live a full life, have a family, be loved.”
The film’s synopsis reads: Just an ordinary suburban family– except that Dad’s transgender, Mom’s queer, and there are five kids in this minivan. This is one family’s true story of identity, trust, and transformation. Too many transgender kids wonder: Will I be loved? Will I get to have a family? Will it all be ok? Here’s the answer: a love story about family, finding your true self, and becoming who you really are.
Just Another Beautiful Family will screen on Sunday, September 22nd, at 6:30pm as part of the Alberta Shorts program at Calgary International Film Festival. This film was made possible with support from TELUS STORYHIVE.
First-time filmmakers Katherine and Nick fell in love, turned their worlds upside down, and lived to tell about it. Their first joint project is this personal documentary about how they fell in love, became a blended family with FIVE kids, and navigated Nick’s gender transition from female to male. This is the first of many projects they hope to do together (in addition to coparenting, driving the minivan, and doing to the dishes) as part of their Beautiful Families project, which shares stories about all sorts of underrepresented and nontraditional families– because every family is a beautiful family.