Casa Susanna, a documentary produced by AMERICAN EXPERIENCE making its broadcast premiere this month, uncovers the untold history of a safe haven for transgender women and cross-dressing men during the 1950s and 60s. The film offers a unique glimpse at early expressions of transgender identity in modern American society and shares firsthand stories from former visitors who return to the property, now as elders in their 80s, for the first time in decades. Read more about the film here. It airs June 27 at 9pm on GBH 2 and is streaming on PBS.org.

We spoke with Cameo George, executive producer of AMERICAN EXPERIENCE, about the film.

How did Casa Susanna come to be?
Casa Susanna came about when acclaimed French filmmaker Sébastien Lifshitz discovered a treasure trove of hidden photos — interesting, evocative day-in-the life photos of a group of friends who were cross-dressing and exploring their gender identity and sexuality in the 1950s and 1960s. At that time, it was illegal to be gay or to wear the clothes of what was deemed to be the opposite gender. You could lose your job or your liberty. Finding this batch of photos was incredible.

What happened next?
The question became, where did they come from? Who are these people? It turns out these photos came from Casa Susanna, a secret enclave and refuge in the Catskills of New York where men could go to experience the freedom they could not at home. A lot of the men were in heterosexual marriages, they had children and they had ordinary middle-class jobs — pilots, accountants, lawyers.

Why is this film a fit with AMERICAN EXPERIENCE?
A real goal of mine for the series is to make sure that the history AMERICAN EXPERIENCE presents is one that is more inclusive, broader, more representative. For a long time, many of us have received a version of American history that is very homogeneous and monolithic. I’m hoping we can see all the other faces and places and people who maybe didn’t have the tools, or the access or the machinery to tell their own stories.

What were some challenges during filmmaking?
The foremost challenge was locating people in the photos. Are they still alive? Would they be willing to talk about what they were doing in this very hidden community? The filmmaker Sébastian Lifshitz had to build rapport and trusting relationships with them. The key figures in the film — Kate, Diana, Gregory and Betsy — were so thoughtful and generous with their time and emotions. You can’t watch this film without feeling a human connection with these characters.

Why is this film relevant now?
It’s so easy to think that this moment we’re living in is the worst time ever — that it’s the only time that anyone has ever been victimized or scapegoated or targeted or discriminated against. Our contribution to the conversation is to show we’ve been here before and give you the tools to develop your own critical thinking. It’s not our job to tell you how to feel about these issues, but it is our job to tell you the truth of different people’s lived experience in different chapters of American history.

What is an especially important element of the film for you?
A lot of times in our culture we don’t reach back in our history and have conversations with the generation before and before that. It’s fascinating to me to see these amazing people in their 70s and 80s talking about what it was like for them. Also, the conversation in this country about gender and sexuality often has a face of a younger generation. There are important lessons to be learned from people who were dealing with these same questions and issues 50 or 60 years ago. There’s an interesting intergenerational conversation to be had.

Have you shown the film to the main characters?
We had a screening event last winter with Sébastian and his producer and all our living characters — Kate passed away just after filming, which was devastating. Each of them talked about how meaningful it was to participate in the project. Diana talked about never sharing her story publicly before the film. There were people in her life to this day who hadn’t known that her gender assigned at birth was male. As a filmmaker you hope and pray that people will feel good about doing the interviews and that they’ll be pleased with the finished product. We were all so heartened that they all were happy they told their stories and contributed to people’s understanding of that history.

Watch Casa Susanna here.