Portraits
THE LIFE & LEGACY OF JAHNA STEELE
SteeleCrazy
A voice. A presence.
A life in full.
FEATURE DOCUMENTARY / IN PRODUCTION
Co-Directed & Produced by Aaron Bear & Skylar Nielsen
01 / THE WOMAN BEYOND THE IMAGEJAHNA STEELE
SINGER. SHOWGIRL. HER OWN PERSON.
Beyond
the spotlight.
Singer. Showgirl. A woman making a life on her own terms. Jahna Steele’s story moves through Texas, Las Vegas, Hawaii, and the many stages where she kept finding reasons to perform.
Through her own voice, a remarkable archive, and the people who knew her, Steele Crazy brings a full life back into view.
02 / A FIRST LOOKTHE DOCUMENTARY
THE FILM IN MOTION
Let her
draw you in.
At the height of her Las Vegas career, showgirl Jahna Steele is outed as transgender by a national television broadcast. Told through her own recorded voice and the people who knew her, Steele Crazy follows her extraordinary rise, the upheaval that followed, and her determination to keep finding an audience.
03 / A LIFE, FRAME BY FRAME34 ARCHIVAL ITEMS
Look a
little closer.
Publicity portraits, personal photographs, stage moments, and the printed traces of a working life. Enter the archive and follow your curiosity.
THE STORY IS STILL UNFOLDING
Did you
know Jahna?
Did you work with Jahna, see her perform, share a friendship, or know her through family? We would love to hear from you. Photographs, recordings, letters, programs, and the details that never made the papers may help us understand her life more fully.
04 / IN HER OWN VOICETHE TELEVISION ARCHIVE
Press play.
Stay a while.
Watch the broadcast that changed her public life and hear Jahna speak for herself in the recordings that followed.
A Current Affair: the restored outing broadcast
The restored archival broadcast segment covering Jahna and Crazy Girls.
Watch recording
Geraldo: the full appearance
Watch the complete Geraldo upload supplied for the film archive, from Geraldo Rivera’s YouTube channel.
Watch recording
THE FILM TAKING SHAPE
A story still
coming into focus.
Her ambition, her humor, her work, her relationships. A film with room for all of them.
Steele Crazy is in production. Archival research, participant conversations, and filming continue as the team brings Jahna’s recorded life together with memories from family, friends, and fellow performers.
STAY IN THE PICTURE
Follow the film.
Film news, discoveries, and future screening announcements.