Elliot Page-Produced Jackie Shane Documentary To Premiere at SXSW

A new documentary telling the story of Jackie Shane, a trailblazing trans soul singer, will premiere at South By Southwest in March. Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story is executive produced by Canadian actor Elliot Page and explores Shane's life and career, from her popularity in 1960s Toronto to her re-emergence in the 2010s. Co-produced by the National Film Board of Canada, the documentary chronicles Shane's legacy as an icon of Canadian music and queer history.

Though Shane was born in Nashville, it was when she lived in Toronto that her career hit such heights as 1962 single "Any Other Way," a radio hit and No. 124 on Billboard's Heatseeker chart. Shane became a fixture at the Saphire Tavern on Richmond as the local music scenes around Yorkville and Yonge Street were developing, helping to raise the profile of soul music and R&B in the city.

Though Shane stopped performing in 1971, the Grammy-nominated 2017 compilation album Any Other Way (and, before that, a CBC radio documentary from 2010) helped bring her back to prominence. After her death in 2019, Shane was memorialized in a 2022 Canadian Heritage Minute, narrated by musician Beverly Glenn-Copeland. A plaque was dedicated to her at the Saphire site in 2023.

Directed by Michael Mabbott and Lucah Rosenberg-Lee, Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story promises to bring new insight into Shane's life, featuring previously unaired phone calls, as well as animated elements and family perspectives. Rosenberg-Lee previously directed 2015's Passing, a documentary short highlighting the experiences of Black trans men. Mabbott directed the 2005 music mockumentary The Life and Hard Times of Guy Terrifico. Any Other Way also features music by Montreal's Murray Lightburn, of The Dears, who also composed for the Heritage Minute about Shane.

Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story premieres on March 9 at SXSW.