VENUS OF MARS

"When dressed in a vinyl corset and stiletto boots, Venus is the lead singer of the Minneapolis glam rock band All the Pretty Horses. When at home with wife Lynette, Venus goes by Steve. Venus lives somewhere between genders--she takes female hormones but has not opted for sexual reassignment surgery. Instead, Venus and Lynette are bravely traveling in uncharted relationship territory, trying to make a marriage work outside of the traditional archetypes of husband and wife.

The band, which includes other trans-gendered members, deal with their unique membership the best way they know how-with humor. As they take their act on the road, they delight in seeing straight suburban males attempting to process all of the gender ambiguities. Venus is almost proud that even trans-gendered people are intimidated by her. But, in the confines of their own home, she and Lynette are not too distant from Ozzie and Harriet.

Emily Goldberg creatively weaves Venus' many talents into the film: Venus is more than a rockin' musician who puts on a spectacular stage show, she's also a wide-ranging visual artist and poet. Venus' own experimental films are peppered throughout, providing another layer of understanding to the conflict that has lingered inside her since boyhood. Far from being another bizarre documentary about bizarre people, VENUS OF MARS shows that it's neither just what's on the outside nor on the inside that counts-it's the whole of us, from Adam's apple to stiletto boots."

Saturday 6/19 at 9:30 p.m.