Transgender Love Story "Just Another Beautiful Family" Wins Audience Choice Award at CIFF

A tender love story about a family with a transgender parent won the Audience Choice Award at Calgary International Film Festival. (Photo credit: Dana Pugh.)

The short documentary film "Just Another Beautiful Family" won the Audience Choice Award at the Calgary International Film Festival on Wednesday, October 2nd. The film follows Katherine and Nick North's own family of 7, which on the surface looks like a typical suburban family, with a twist: Nick is transgender.

"Our goal is to show people an example of what a happy, loving family looks like with queer parents," says Nick North, who co-wrote, co-directed, and co-produced the film with his wife, Katherine North. "As cool as it is for us to win this award, I actually think it's a sign of progress for all of us. Three years ago when I came out, I don't know that a trans film would have been this loved and accepted. We wanted to show everyone that there are so many kinds of beautiful families."

The film's synopsis reads: Just an ordinary suburban family-- except that Dad's transgender, Mom's queer, and there are five kids in this minivan. This is one family's true story of identity, trust, and transformation. Too many transgender kids wonder: Will I be loved? Will I get to have a family? Will it all be ok? Here's the answer: a love story about family, finding your true self, and becoming who you really are.

The "Just Another Beautiful Family" Short Documentary

About The Norths: 

First-time filmmakers Katherine and Nick fell in love, turned their worlds upside down, and lived to tell about it. Their first joint project is this personal documentary about how they fell in love, became a blended family with FIVE kids, and navigated Nick's gender transition from female to male. 

This is the first of many projects they hope to do together (in addition to coparenting, driving the minivan, and doing to the dishes) as part of their Beautiful Families project, which shares stories about all sorts of underrepresented and nontraditional families-- because every family is a beautiful family.

The North family: just an ordinary suburban family with five kids, a naughty puppy, and a minivan. (Photo credit: Dana Pugh)

• Just Another Beautiful Family premiered as part of the Alberta Shorts program at Calgary International Film Festival, and is now available in full online. This film was made possible with support from TELUS STORYHIVE.

SOURCE: Katherine and Nick North