ANY OTHER WAY: THE JACKIE SHANE STORY (Hot Docs 2024) – Review by Liz Braun

Forty years of living as a recluse nearly erased her legacy, but a new film about Jackie Shane should ensure that the legendary R&B singer is properly remembered.

Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story is one of the standout films at this year’s Hot Docs film festival in Toronto. Shane, a transgender performer decades before gender identity was part of the lexicon, was born in Nashville and moved to Canada in 1959 — entering the country for a gig and never leaving.

Shane eventually settled in Toronto and had a big presence in the club scene there. And she had a Top 40 hit in the 1960s: Any Other Way.

In 1971, Shane vanished from the music scene. What became of this brave and talented performer is one of the mysteries solved in Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story.

Directed by Michael Mabbott and Lucah Rosenberg-Lee, the film includes interviews and archival photographs and footage (and great music), as well as hitherto unknown phone conversations with Shane that are brought to life here with rotoscope animation; the animation is visually delightful and a distinguishing feature of the documentary.

Shane’s biography is riveting on its own, but the animation, as well as the input from Sandra Caldwell (who plays Shane in the phone sequences) and Makayla Walker (who plays her on stage) really bring the artist to life.

The filmmakers discovered both an autobiography and some previously unreleased recordings when Shane’s family gave them access to her carefully organized archive. The singer had moved back to Nashville and had lived for many years near nieces and nephews and other family members who didn’t know she existed.

Shane was a trail-blazer and remains an icon of the LGBTQ+ community. In her heyday, she turned down the Ed Sullivan Show because they insisted she perform in male attire; she refused to go on American Bandstand because she said it was racist, booking Black artists to perform in front of the all-white teen regulars on the show — which is true.

Some years ago, Shane began talking to various people intent upon seeing her return to the spotlight. The result was a 2017 re-issue of her music, which is how the filmmakers discovered she was still alive. Hours of phone conversation began with Michael Mabbott, and the film started to take shape.

Jackie Shane died in 2019.

Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story is executive produced by Elliott Page. The film is a co-production from Banger Films and The National Film Board of Canada (NFB), the federal agency devoted to supporting Canadian culture and the Canadian experience, through film.

Yes, we’re lucky up here