Meant To Be Maddie

Volatile politics, changing social norms and an ever-growing list of transphobic legislation provide a backdrop to this coming of age story of a North Carolina transgender teenager and her family.

In 2014, Maddie was in first grade at a North Carolina elementary school when a news crew showed up unannounced and declared on television that “a student who started school as a boy came back this fall as a girl.” Two years later, North Carolina’s “Bathroom Bill” would catapult the state and trans youth to center stage, and Maddie was forced to use a different restroom from the rest of her classmates. When President Trump was elected in 2016, the family had to decide whether to stay silent or speak out, risking their safety and privacy. They chose to fight. This decade-long film follows Maddie through adolescence, as she and her family work to build a life filled with joy, love, unconditional acceptance and purpose, while the outside world bombards them with transphobic legislation and rhetoric. For Maddie's mom, Katie, that means going to law school at age 45 to become an attorney specializing in trans rights so that she can be ready and able to fight for the safety and sanity of her daughter. While Maddie continues to find her voice in activism, she begins to dream of being like every other teenager, whose only worries are making the cheerleading squad, passing her driver’s test and hanging out past 10.

Director | Anna Clare Spelman
Producers | Anna Clare Spelman, Bridgette Cyr, Luchina Fisher