'My Gender Is Black' Review: Terry Blade Brings Visual Power to Black Queer Experience
Striking cinematography and incisive music choices give this intimate experimental documentary its force without overwhelming its examination of Blackness, gender and sexuality.
“My Gender Is Black” is an experimental documentary, but its simplicity is its strength: intimate without being obvious, informative without being overbearing. Filmmaker Terry Blade finds an arresting way into the deep, troubling, and necessary subject of how Blackness shapes the experience and expression of gender and sexuality. His visual confidence makes the conversation felt as much as heard, and after watching this film, I want to see much more of his work.
The approximately 20-minute documentary uses interviews, portraiture, archival footage, movement, text, color and music to examine the expectations placed on Black bodies, particularly around masculinity, queerness, desire and respectability. It considers how people live within those expectations, resist them, and define themselves on their own terms. The question running through it is one of freedom: What becomes possible when Black people can express gender without being forced into someone else’s idea of who they should be?
The framing is spectacular, with beautifully layered compositions that seem to move even when the people being interviewed are still. I love the cinematography. The music choices are, as they say, “chef’s kiss”: They establish the atmosphere, and you feel it from beginning to end. Feel me? I hope you do. This film, its participants, its director, and its crew are, in two words: a vibe.
Visual Style That Never Loses the Subject
Blade never loses sight of the subject under discussion. A critic might dismiss “My Gender Is Black” as a music video, and I would disagree utterly. It draws on the exciting elements that have helped make music videos an art form embraced worldwide, but Blade is too visually intelligent to rely on lazy spectacle. His images and music intensify the conversation rather than compete with it.
When one man speaks candidly about the prejudices he experiences within his own community, the moment is so direct that I had to rewind and consider what he had shared. “No fatties and no femmes” hits hard, as does his account of not feeling embraced as an African American within the larger LGBTQ+ community. His testimony makes those exclusions painfully immediate.
A Perspective I Will Keep Thinking About
A participant wearing a “Black Boy” T-shirt raises another point: the tendency to frame gay men as “cute,” treating them almost as accessories and diminishing the fact that they are men. Gay men.
I am not sure I agree, at least as that observation relates to my own experience. Gay men, then and now, have made my life bigger and better. I have never forgotten that they are men—strong men, protectors, always ready to step into battle for me. Perhaps I am luckier than most, but I will think about her point of view. Her observation does not need my immediate agreement to deserve my attention.
That is what Blade wants: thought and dialogue. I found myself listening, questioning, and returning to what had been said, including the moments that challenged my own experience.
The James Baldwin clips sharpen the conversation in a way that is downright humbling. He has always been a truth-teller; although he is no longer with us in body, his words have never felt more alive. In this film, they deepen a discussion that Blade has already made intimate and difficult to turn away from.
Credited as director, writer, editor, executive producer and music supervisor, Blade brings those contributions together without allowing style to eclipse the people speaking or the subject they are confronting. Great work.
About Director Terry Blade
Terry Blade is a Chicago-based multidisciplinary artist, director and singer-songwriter whose work connects music, moving images, archival material and questions of Black and queer identity. His official biography describes music and sound as forms of testimony, with projects addressing ancestral memory, sexuality, masculinity and cultural preservation. His earlier music-film work includes “Won’t Be Around,” which appeared at Tribeca and other festivals.
Blade is also the founder and CEO of Blade Arthouse Media, an independent, Black- and LGBTQ+-founded creative agency working across film, music, digital media, publishing and creative communications
Official website and biography
Blade Arthouse Media professional profile
Awards and Festival Recognition
The teaser-trailer for “My Gender Is Black” received a Gold award at the 2026 Cannes Corporate Media & TV Awards in category C49, “Trailers and Teasers for Documentaries and Reports.” The official winners listing identifies Blade Arthouse Media as the client. This honor recognizes the trailer, not the complete documentary, and comes from the Cannes Corporate Media & TV Awards—not the Cannes Film Festival.
Official Cannes Corporate Media & TV Awards winners
The trailer was also a finalist for Best Sync in a Film, Series or Programme Trailer at the 2026 Music+Sound Awards. The organization credits music supervision to Terry Blade and Larry Robertson at Blade Arthouse Media and identifies the track as “Maybe It’s Over,” by Aviv Barenholtz and Chen Kordova/Messwave.
Music+Sound Awards trailer finalist listing
Official festival sources confirm programming at the Chelsea Film Festival, Oslo/Fusion International Film Festival and Way OUT West Film Fest, along with an excerpt presentation at Massimadi’s opening night. These appearances should be distinguished from competitive award wins.
Where to See “My Gender Is Black”
Chelsea Film Festival — New York, New York
Friday, October 16, 2026, at 11:00 a.m.
Regal Battery Park, Auditorium 10
102 North End Avenue, New York, NY 10282
Program #3: “Who Are We?”
The festival’s official schedule lists “My Gender Is Black” in this shorts program. The time is the program’s start time, not necessarily the precise moment the film begins. Chelsea’s documentary listing gives the film’s running time as 20 minutes, while its schedule lists 19 minutes.chelseafilm+1
Tickets and festival information
Way OUT West Film Fest — Albuquerque, New Mexico
Saturday, October 17, 2026, at 12:30 p.m.
The Guild Cinema
3405 Central Avenue NE, Albuquerque, NM 87106
Shorts program: “Black + Queer On Screen”
Program running time: 80 minutes
The festival lists “My Gender Is Black” in “Black + Queer On Screen,” with the program’s date, time, and venue provided in its official schedule.wayoutwestfilmfest+1
Tickets, passes and festival information
Massimadi: Afro LGBTQ+ Film & Arts Festival — Montreal, Canada
Thursday, October 15, 2026, from 6:00 to 10:00 p.m.
Théâtre Plaza
Opening-night event
Massimadi’s official opening-night listing announces an excerpt from “My Gender Is Black,” rather than a confirmed presentation of the complete documentary. The festival runs from October 15 through November 8.
Festival program and ticket information
Official Website and YouTube Trailer
“My Gender Is Black” official film website
Terry Blade’s official website
Watch “My Gender Is Black” official teaser-trailer on YouTube
Terry Blade’s official YouTube channel
Teaser-trailer campaign and production information
Social Media and Other Public Platforms
The following accounts are associated with Terry Blade rather than verified, film-specific profiles:
Instagram: @bladearthouse. The profile identifies Blade as an artist and director working across music, film, and creative media.instagram
X: @TerryBladeMusic. The profile describes his cross-disciplinary work and identifies his location as Chicago, via Washington, D.C
Facebook: TerryBladeMusic. This address appears in a published interview, and Blade’s official website lists Facebook among its platforms; the current page could not be independently inspected.terryblademusic+1
YouTube: Terry Blade. His official artist channel includes the film’s teaser trailer.youtube
SoundCloud: Terry Blade. Artist profile and music catalog.soundcloud
Bandcamp: Terry Blade. Music releases and artist information.terryblade.bandcamp
Credit Block
Director: Terry Blade
Producers: Terry Blade, Larry Robertson, Juliana Dünn, Matteo Fiorentini, Hans Peter Schepp, Shahar Rosenfeld
Cast: Cristian Julian Chigbolu, Ujah Ogbole, Big Sexy, Jay Hill, Syd Tillman, James Baldwin, Donnie Duncan
Cinematographers: Thomas Geller, Ross Hillier, Calvin Thompson, Gianmaria Palombo, Hans Peter Schepp, Morton Lovechild, Shahar Rosenfeld
All Photos Courtesy of the Production Company.
Cast: Cristian Julian Chigbolu, Ujah Ogbole, Big Sexy, Jay Hill, Syd Tillman, James Baldwin, Donnie Duncan
Cinematographers: Thomas Geller, Ross Hillier, Calvin Thompson, Gianmaria Palombo, Hans Peter Schepp, Morton Lovechild, Shahar Rosenfeld
No comments:
Post a Comment