Otherness Archive was fueled out of being othered and not feeling a sense of trans identites being authentically represented in the traditional categories of the LGBTQIA film and moving image spectrum. Otherness Archive defies the historic censorship of homosexual, trans and racial themes, and instead highlights them as representations of otherness that deserve equal, if not greater, recognition. Otherness acts as a route into complex narratives and subjectivities that make for richer cinema.

Otherness Archive was created out of being othered, thus reimagining the term as a form of empowerment and celebration whether it be in relation to race, gender or sexuality and archiving their work. What we hope to do is acknowledge the forgotten: the pioneers who influenced cinema and the contemporary filmmakers who are creating new modes of filmmaking today. Those who’s films, representations and themes celebrate and center the multiplicity of experiences that exist beyond those solely of white heterosexual men.

After one year of cultivating research and an international call out, our digital archive launched January 2023.

Otherness Archive is an accessible online archive: providing an open-access library and freely available resource, featuring our first iteration – focusing on *transmasculine moving-image, both contemporary and pre-existing work. This is a resource for our trans and queer community.

Otherness Archive uses the term ‘trans masculine’, we are referring to all the nuances of the trans masc experience in moving image work, and to the various expressions of masculinity found across the trans community including, but not limited to, trans men, non-binary people, dykes, butches, bull daggers, crowdaggers, studs and gender non-conforming people. We really want to deconstruct heteropatriarchal barriers to access, such as age restrictions and mislabelling that further obscures trans works of art.

In the physical realm we also curate and promote artists’ work in many spaces that may not otherwise be widely viewed. Within our ethos we always pay our artists and curators as we recognize the financial background of our artists and that their work is directly connected to their livelihoods.

1. All LGBT+ Communities
2. Black, Asian and Minoritised Ethnicities
3. Intersex/Variations in Sex Characteristics (VSC)
4. Lesbians/Gay Women
5. Non-UK Residents
6. People with disabilities
7. Trans People/People with gender histories