WHY CAN’T I BE ME? AROUND YOU

Albuquerque’s Rusty Tidenberg, auto mechanic and drag-racing aficionado, shocked friends and family by coming out as trans. 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 non-conforming individuals on the art-car circuit, Blank’s film — a hit at South by Southwest — is a sensitive and unpredictable love letter to people who fight to be unapologetically themselves.

Director Bio

Harrod Blank is an artist and filmmaker, internationally known for creating and documenting Art Cars. His film Wild Wheels was broadcast worldwide and on PBS & HBO. Blank learned filmmaking as a youth, by working for his father Les Blank. Harrod Blank is building a museum in Douglas, Arizona (Art Car World), and creating a film series about Burning Man.

Preceded By

MILLER & SON

Directed by Asher Jelinsky

A trans woman mechanic lives between running her family’s garage during the day and expressing her femininity at night, until an unforeseen event threatens the balance of her compartmentalized life.