I am a nonbinary person who has a huge fascination for transgender history. Here are some transgender documentaries for you all! Not all history-based, but hey, everything's history eventually. Level of trans content may vary, as I do include docs about the LGBTQ+ community as a whole if they feature or discuss trans people in more than passing.

Covers binary transness, nonbinary and genderqueer people, and all the various genders throughout the world that don't fit neatly into male or female. I'm keeping my definitions of transness broad, as I think it's all at least of interest to those looking for a trans documentary list.

I would love to watch them all, but due to factors such as time and lack of money, I haven't. Finding trans documentaries is easier, faster, and cheaper than watching a full one, turns out! There are many lists for this, but I hope my methods of digging can find some things that don't overlap with the larger ones--I like seeking more obscure works. Note: This isn't an ordered list, just ordered by 'whenever i found it', so I recommend using the 'sort by' feature if you want a more organized experience.

Suggestions are always open! I've built this list from a lot of sources, but I obviously won't have everything.

Resources for further research, as docs aren't all there is to trans history or the trans experience (WIP):

www.digitaltransgenderarchive.net/
arquives.ca/
www.uvic.ca/transgenderarchives/index.php

Suggestions for these are VERY open, especially if you know of any archives that are outside of my english-speaking bubble!

Note that not all films are exclusively trans-friendly in a modern context. I attempt not to platform documentaries whose end goal is to spread a transphobic message. However, particularly in the case of older documentaries, the language used may be deemed insensitive in modern parlance, or it may be used as 'spectacle' for cis people, etc.

I allow older films some more leeway in this department, simply because there are so few of them, and I feel it would be a disservice to discount the voices of our past. I also allow films in other languages some leeway when judging from things like descriptions, as I like to give the benefit of the doubt in regards to things that could be the result of awkward translation. As with any documentaries, do not take everything here as gospel.

Check notes for clarifications on edge cases. Also working on adding links for docs that are officially on Youtube or Vimeo, since those of course don't appear in the site list.