A star ignites once more, its brilliance shining brighter than ever. Jackie Shane, a Black trans soul singer, emerges with a presence that outshines even the legends of R&B like Etta James and Little Richard.
After disappearing mysteriously from the public eye for nearly four decades, this unsung hero receives the recognition she deserves in Michael Mabbott and Lucah Rosenberg-Lee’s poignant documentary, "Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story," with Elliot Page as executive producer.
In an era where voices like hers were silenced and pushed to the sidelines, Jackie blazed a trail of incandescent light from her roots in Nashville to the pinnacles of success in 1960s Toronto, reigning over the nightclub scene with unparalleled charisma. Despite the scarcity of recordings capturing her legendary performances, this film resurrects Jackie's essence through her own words, woven with never-before-heard phone conversations, breathtaking rotoscope animation, and a newly unveiled song. The film's magnificent soundtrack solidifies Jackie's legacy as one of the greatest soul performers of the 20th century.
Her life and career unfold as an epic saga, filled with family secrets, heartbreak, and love. From standing up to the mob to boldly confronting Ed Sullivan, Jackie lived authentically, fueled by talent, courage, and an unwavering commitment to truth. Yet, just as she prepares for her triumphant return to the stage, destiny intervenes. In "Any Other Way," Jackie finally steps into her long-awaited encore. Or as she would say herself: "Oh, Honey! When it comes to Jackie, look out!"
Left to right: Little Richard with Jackie in Nashville.
Image courtesy of Banger Films and the NFB
INTERVIEW WITH DIRECTORS MICHAEL MABBOTT AND LUCAH ROSENBERG-LEE
How were you introduced to Jackie Shane’s story?
Michael Mabbott: I first heard the album Jackie Shane Live! over 10 years ago. It blew my mind, musically. When I realized what little information there was about Jackie, I was intrigued because she had disappeared. I became an amateur detective filmmaker, in a way. I would try to track her down every few years, but I didn’t know if she was alive or dead. I reached out to a few people who were involved in the reissue and they helped me get through to her.
We spoke once a week, usually on Fridays. She intentionally and thoughtfully unfolded her story like an audition to determine, How are you going to react to this? or, Can you handle this? It was like an essay on her life that she was building layer by layer to make sure that the person she was telling it to was hearing it in the right way.
She wanted her story to be told, and I wanted to listen. A lot of the film is based on recordings of those conversations. That year of my life is still the greatest honour I’ve ever had.
Lucah Rosenberg-Lee: I actually hadn’t heard of Jackie Shane, surprisingly or not. I think many people still don’t know about her, which is why this film is important. Michael reached out to me based on a film I had made about my Black trans experience and said that he was looking for someone to help them make this project.
What was your process for bringing Jackie’s story to life, considering the lack of archival or recorded material?
MM: The bedrock that we always had going into this was Jackie’s own words in conversations that weren’t interviews but were more intimate—they had her voice, with all its humour, gravitas, history and philosophy. There was only one piece of footage of her actually playing. It wasn’t live but in a studio. It made perfect sense to use a rotoscope to bring these recordings to life. That opened the door for us to work with Sandra Caldwell, who played Jackie in the phone recordings. And Makayla Walker, who played Jackie as a performer, and not only brought Jackie to life but their own experiences as well.
LRL: It wasn’t until we went down to Nashville and opened her storage unit that we discovered the wealth of photos. This film was very intentional about which photos were used, especially from the perspective of someone who is trans. It’s such a delicate process to help people understand a singular person’s life, when they’ve inhabited so many lives.
What was your approach for building an ecosystem of meaningful relationships around this film?
MM: Well, to begin with we had the support and partnership of a serendipitous team of producers. Banger Films is the country’s foremost music documentary production company. Their passion for music and the stories behind the music is unending. When we took the film to the NFB we discovered that producer Justine Pimlott had spoken with Jackie around the time I’d been talking with her and felt a similar love and connection as I did. Jackie’s story was incredibly important and personal to Justine as a queer filmmaker with deep roots in Toronto. So Justine came to the project not just with her own years of experience in documentary and the resources and brain trust of the NFB, but with a shared passion to ensure the film we made was commensurate in beauty and power to Jackie herself. We couldn’t have been more fortunate. Then, to have Elliot Page and their company, PageBoy, come on as executive producers, we kind of felt like we were starting out with a dream team.
LRL: We prioritized Black trans, non-binary and queer hires in all aspects of production. We also worked with the Trans Film Mentorship to bring on two BIPOC and 2SLGBTQIA+ creatives to work closely with the team through paid training and work experience. Having trans people on the film was a blessing. Top to bottom and on every element of this project, the community has felt drawn in by the relationship between their own experiences and Jackie’s story.
Team members would often come to us to share stories about themselves or their community in relation to Jackie’s story, with comments like, “This is really powerful.” It was amazing to have the crew talk about how much they were really falling in love with everything that was being created in this film. I don’t think that’s always the case.
What were the pivotal eureka moments while making the film?
MM: We found Jackie’s autobiography, which was staggering to a documentarian. Then, we found unreleased recordings that have become part of the film. Those discoveries that were incredible. After Jackie passed away, we started working with her family, who didn’t know that Jackie existed and then inherited her incredible archive. As they were discovering who Jackie was, we were understanding her through her jewelry and tapes. What was also born out of that is the family’s story, which was a slightly unexpected creative approach.
Hearing the family talk about her, learn about her legacy and describe what it meant to them was obviously very personal but also really universal. This is a family that lived blocks away from her, didn’t know she was there and missed out on having her. I think that a lot of us feel that loss and that translates in all sorts of ways. That was a eureka moment.
Why is now the right time to share Jackie’s story with the world, and what can we learn from it?
LRL: With everything that’s happened in the last few years around gender, drag and 2SLGBTQIA+ rights, it is important to remember how long queer people have been around. They’ve been living out their dreams, despite all the ups and downs of the last 50 to 100 years. We can learn from Jackie that it’s important to be ourselves and to follow our dreams. It’s important to not let society hold you back but also to treat other people with respect. She lived with a ‘live and let live’ mentality.
MM: It feels incredibly important right now to have a clear picture of our history. Hearing the true stories of where we came from makes us stronger, rather than living in denial and patting ourselves on the back. When we started making this film six years ago it felt like, ‘now’s the time.’ Every year that feeling keeps intensifying.
Any Other Way runs SAT APR 27 || TIFF Lightbox 1, SUN APR 28 || TIFF Lightbox 1 and SAT MAY 04 Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema