'My Gender is Black' Review
Director: Terry Blade.
Release Date: 10/15/26 [Festival Run]
Genre: Documentary. Short.
Distributor: Blade Arthouse Media.
The Verdict: A Maybe
Documentary filmmaking has come a long way since Robert J. Flaherty's 1922 Nanook of the North. It’s now sometimes a genre within a genre, like a Russian doll explosion of non-fiction expressions. And the latest directed short, My Gender is Black, from Terry Blade, is no exception.
In his documentary, Blade explores Blackness, masculinity, and queerness through bodies and portraits. He interviews black man to talk about expressing vulnerability, the effect of toxic masculinity on their upbringing, queerness, sexuality, and more. He juxtaposes this with portraits of beautiful Black men rejecting masculine norms, photographed with delicate accessories and costumes.
Blade picks the most beautiful-looking Black men to shoot. He flips from one face to the next, his camera lingering on tattooed, sweaty bodies; skin like shimmering chiffon; beautiful dark eyes; and many hairstyles. He films movement and stationary portraits, close-ups and wide-angle shots. The documentary uses confessionals as embellishments of the bigger picture; without a script or narration, the short stands on its own. If we’re being honest, removing the short interviews from the final product wouldn't diminish My Gender is Black's potency or influence. Still, it would instead continue its deep-rooted, satisfying depiction of Black lives and queer representation.
The short feels like two films in one: the important, serious, question-posing parts, and the celebratory, hazy-dream-like ethereal intermissions. The short, artistic clips have bigger influence and more lasting power than the interviews, despite their importance. This leaves the short a bit shaky and on shaky ground, but it still doesn’t completely turn the viewing experience into a chaotic jumble. This is mostly due to the film's fast pace and short length, but if it were longer, the inconsistent filmmaking styles could’ve turned it into an unwatchable mess.
One of the pros of the film, though, is holding space for queer black folks to express themselves freely, and talk about common stereotypes, fears, misconceptions, and the importance of gender and sexual expression, especially given the racial context that the film frames: how blackness and queerness intersect or are independent of one another.
As a documentary short debut, My Gender is Black works on so many levels. It’s not just visually appealing and immersive. It's a display of Black beauty, emotional depth, and gender expression. Its reasonable length also makes it more digestible without losing track of the director's message.
