Latest news with #HeightenedScrutiny
San Francisco Chronicle
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
S.F. LGBTQ film festival hopes unique fundraising twist helps beat Trump cuts
In another novel concept designed to help Frameline weather a loss of federal funding, the nation's oldest and largest LGBTQ media arts organization is turning to donor sponsored screenings. Called the Queer2Queer Campaign, it encourages supporters to 'adopt' a screening at San Francisco International LGBTQ+ Film Festival. Priced at $2,500, a sponsored screening assists Frameline cover the costs of not only venue rental and other exhibition fees, but also bringing in filmmakers for in-person Q&As for the June 18-28 event at venues in San Francisco and Oakland. More Information Frameline 49 When: June 18-28 Where: Roxie Theater, Herbst Theatre, Vogue Theatre, American Conservatory Theater's Toni Rembe Theater, Oasis, KQED, Rikki's, Proxy and Charmaine's in San Francisco; the New Parkway Theater in Oakland. Pre-festival: June 13-15, Smith Rafael Film Center, 1118 Fourth St., San Rafael. Streaming: Select films will be available to stream at home June 23-30. Films: Nearly 150 from 40 countries, including 17 world premieres. Opening night: 'Jimpa,' starring Olivia Colman and John Lithgow. 7 p.m. June 18. $35. Toni Rembe Theater, 415 Geary St., S.F. Juneteenth: 'I Was Born This Way,' documentary about the late Archbishop Carl Bean. 6 p.m. June 19. $19.50. KQED, 2601 Mariposa St., S.F. First Friday: 'Heightened Scrutiny,' documentary about American Civil Liberties Union transgender attorney Chase Strangio. 7 p.m. June 20. Toni Rembe Theater • First Friday Party. 9 p.m.-midnight. Charmaine's, 1100 Market St., S.F. $35 film only; $85 film plus party. Pride Kickoff: Rashaad Newsome and Johnny Symons' documentary 'Assembly.' 5:45 p.m. June 27. Herbst Theatre, 401 Van Ness Ave. S.F. • Pride Kickoff Party. 9 p.m.-midnight. Oasis, 298 11th St., S.F. $28 film only; $60 film plus party. Closing night: James Sweeney's comedy 'Twinless.' 8:30 p.m. June 28. $35. Herbst Theatre. Frameline Executive Director Allegra Madsen and her team hatched the idea for the Queer2Queer Campaign after Frameline was stripped of about $50,000 in grants promised to it by the National Endowment for the Arts, part of the Trump administration's directive to defund the arts and humanities. 'It's frustrating. It's sad,' Madsen told the Chronicle hours before revealing the full schedule for Frameline 49 at a release party at Oasis on May 13. 'It's darn near impossible not to read it as an attempt at censorship. But the festival will go on, we will still make space and community for queer people. That is our mission, regardless of changing policies at the national level.' The Queer2Queer Campaign follows the previously announced pay-it forward initiative to provide free tickets to transgender and nonbinary attendees to 'Heightened Scrutiny,' Sam Feder's documentary about American Civil Liberties Union attorney Chase Strangio, the first out trans person to argue before the Supreme Court. The film is screening as part of the festival's First Friday event on June 20. 'We got ourselves through McCarthyism, the Lavender Scare. We supported each other through the AIDS crisis, and we developed the art of activism and mutual support. It seems like we're entering another paradigm where the powers that be, the larger current administration, wants to marginalize queer people again,' Madsen said. But, she added, 'Queer people have a very long history of standing up for and with one another, particularly when the societal forces don't want to do so.' Frameline 49, which features nearly 150 films from about 40 countries, opens with 'Jimpa,' Sophie Hyde's family drama starring Olivia Colman and John Lithgow, and closes with James Sweeney's 'Twinless,' a comedy about two grieving men who bond in a support group and form an unlikely friendship. Both were well received at January's Sundance Film Festival. Big nights include the Juneteenth-slotted movie 'I Was Born This Way,' Daniel Junge and Sam Pollard's documentary about the late Archbishop Carl Bean, who founded both the Minority AIDS Project and the world's first LGBTQ church for people of color; and the Pride Kickoff Party film 'Assembly,' which follows visionary artist Rashaad Newsome as he transforms a historic military facility into a Black queer utopia, blending art, artificial intelligence and performance. Madsen, who also led the programming team, is especially proud of the variety of films at this year's edition, which include the animated thrill ride 'Lesbian Space Princess,' which won a Teddy Award at the Berlin International Film Festival; the world premiere of Oriel Pe'er's 'A Deeper Love: The Story of Miss Peppermint,' a documentary about the artist, activist and 'RuPaul's Drag Race' runner-up; and the searing intersex documentary 'The Secret of Me,' which exposes deep family secrets. Then there's the film 'your great-aunt Ida' should see, Madsen said. 'Somebody asked me, 'So what should my out-of-town relatives come and see at Frameline to get a little taste?'' Madsen recalled. 'The answer this year is 'Four Mothers.'' The Irish comedy is about a young gay author whose book tour is upended when his mother has a stroke. As he cares for her, three more elderly women arrive on his doorstep. 'I really love that film,' Madsen said. 'It is the film for the sandwich generation.'
San Francisco Chronicle
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Supreme Court decision looms over 49th Frameline LGBTQ+ film festival
As Frameline's 49th film festival nears, LGBTQ+ rights are under assault from federal and state governments, and drastic cuts in funding are affecting all arts and LGBTQ+ organizations. It's a scary time, but the San Francisco International LGBTQ+ Film Festival, the world's largest and longest-running film festival of its kind, is defiant. 'We need to really lay the groundwork out there,' Frameline Executive Director Allegra Madsen told the Chronicle ahead of the festival, which runs Wednesday, June 18, through June 28. 'We need to stand up for one another inside the community and also we need to look outside the community for effective allyship, one that is actually rooted in supporting the queer community.' Madsen and her team have programmed a proactive slate of issue-oriented films for the event that sends a clear message: The queer community isn't going anywhere. No film embodies that spirit more than ' Heightened Scrutiny,' Sam Feder's ripped-from-the-headlines documentary about American Civil Liberties Union attorney Chase Strangio, the first out transgender person to argue before the Supreme Court. A recipient of Frameline's 2025 Completion Fund grant, the film is scheduled to make its California premiere in the festival's traditional 'First Friday' slot on June 20, with a screening at American Conservatory Theater's 1,000-seat Toni Rembe Theater, followed by a party at Charmaine's, the Proper Hotel's rooftop bar on Market Street. Produced by former San Francisco resident Amy Scholder, 'Heightened Scrutiny' follows Strangio during his involvement in United States v. Skrmetti, in which he is fighting to overturn Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth. Strangio argued the case before the Supreme Court on Dec. 4, and audio of the arguments (SCOTUS does not allow cameras) is used in the film, which made its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January. To add to the drama, the high court's decision is expected to be handed down during Frameline. 'We felt this urgency to get the film out while the decision was being deliberated so that the public could really understand what the stakes are and hopefully understand the kind of urgency of coalition and, regardless of the outcome, just what this will mean,' Scholder said. 'Nine human beings at the Supreme Court are deciding the fate of the civil rights of a community and the beginning of, or the continuation of, the chipping away of bodily autonomy for all Americans. Whatever the decision is, we set out to show how we got here, what contributed to this moment.' Feder, who spoke to the Chronicle along with Scholder during a video interview, first met Strangio while making his documentary ' Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen ' (2020), about Hollywood's depiction of transgender people. 'The ways in which he spoke about the connection to the rise of visibility and the rise of social and legislative violence really struck me because that was the reason I made that film,' Feder said. 'I wanted people to start preparing for the inevitable backlash.' That backlash has arrived, and with intensity. Not just from the government, but, as 'Heightened Scrutiny' alleges, the mainstream press. Strangio explains in the documentary how headlines about trans issues — both in the New York Times and in other newspapers — subtly changed over a relatively short time leading up to the case. At issue in the Supreme Court case and in media coverage is the use of hormone and puberty blockers, which have been prescribed to children since the 1980s for various conditions that have nothing to do with gender changes, such as early onset puberty. 'This is a framing issue,' Feder said. 'This is not about unfairness or a threat. If you want to make things fair based on blood tests and hormone tests, you should be doing that across the board, right? Not just for this one class of people. So this is about bigotry. So how we frame these stories creates a very specific narrative that people run with, and that's what I wish the press would do better.' Frameline felt 'Heightened Scrutiny' was so important that it introduced a pay-it-forward initiative to provide free tickets to transgender and nonbinary attendees (details at The screening, which Feder and Scholder plan to attend, will be preceded by a performance by the New Voices Bay Area TIGQ (Transgender, Intersex, Genderqueer) Choir. 'The outcome of this case is going to affect all Americans,' Feder said. 'People think this is just about a small community that they don't really care about, and they want to talk about other things. But we're seeing the beginnings of coalition building about reproductive rights and trans rights and immigrant rights. This is all about bodily autonomy, what we have the right to do, what our right is to move through space.'
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
NewFest 2025: LGBTQ+ projects we're most excited to watch
Courtesy of NewFest Heightened Scrutiny; Plainclothes; Dreams in Nightmares NewFest Pride is one of very few film festivals with a primary focus on celebrating queer content. Thankfully, the 2025 edition of the festival won't be any different. The 37-year-old film festival, based in New York City, is presenting its annual Pride selection starting on Thursday, May 29. This year, the organization is presenting films that could become sizable box office successes, as well as indie darlings that have received acclaim at other festival circuits. These projects include the Tom Blyth and Russell Tovey-led Sundance Award-winning drama, Plainclothes, an advance screening of HBO Max's And Just Like That... season 3, as well as Jimpa featuring Academy Award winner Olivia Colman. Since 1988, NewFest has proudly hosted global theatrical releases of seminal queer films such as Paris Is Burning, Hedwig & the Angry Inch, God's Own Country, Bottoms, and Problemista, to name a few. Here's a list of LGBTQ+ films we're most excited to watch at NewFest Pride 2025. Courtesy of NewFest John Lithgow and Aud Mason-Hyde in Jimpa. Olivia Colman and John Lithgow star in the festival's opening night film. Colman plays a filmmaker named Hannah, who takes her trans nonbinary teenage child (Aud Mason-Hyde) to visit their gay grandfather, affectionately nicknamed "Jimpa," played by Lithgow. Her child decides they want to stay with Jimpa for a year abroad, Hannah has to learn to let go and confront her past, as well as her idea of parenting. The film also premiered at the Sundance Film Festival to positive reviews. More information about this screening of can be found on . Courtesy of NewFest Tom Blyth and Russell Tovey in Plainclothes. Tom Blyth and Russell Tovey star in Plainclothes, a steamy drama about cruising in the 1990s inspired by real events. In the movie, Blyth plays an undercover police officer who lures gay men to fall into his trap and quite literally catches them with their pants down. Meanwhile, Tovey portrays a seductive queer cruiser who catches Blyth off-guard and makes him question his duties as a cop in contrast to his attraction to Tovey's character. Out reviewed the film at this year's Sundance, where it won the Special Jury Award for Ensemble Cast. More information about this screening of can be found on . Courtesy of NewFest Dezi Bing, Denée Benton, and Sasha Compère in Dreams in Nightmares. Starring Dezi Bing, Denée Benton, and Sasha Compère, Dreams in Nightmares has been making the rounds at film festivals, which included a world premiere at the 2024 BlackStar Film Festival in Philadelphia and a screening at the 2025 Berlin International Film Festival earlier this year. Through NewFest, New York City audiences will now get the chance to see Shatara Michelle Ford's sophomore feature that follows three Black queer friends embarking on a road trip to find their missing friend. More information about this screening of can be found on . Courtesy of NewFest Elliot Page and Chase Strangio in Heightened Scrutiny. With the relentless assault on transgender rights in the U.S. in the last few years, this documentary is particularly timely. Heightened Scrutiny follows Chase Strangio, an ACLU attorney who became the first trans person to argue in front of the United States Supreme Court. In this case, Strangio works to overturn Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth. The film features commentary and expertise from activists like Laverne Cox and Elliot Page, as well as journalists like Lydia Polgreen and Gina Chua. More information about this screening of can be found on . Courtesy of NewFest Alan Cumming and Charlie Creed-Miles in Drive Back Home. Legendary actor Alan Cumming, who's now also a reality TV superstar as the host of The Traitors, stars in Drive Back Home. The film centers on a man (Charlie Creed-Miles) from a small town in New Jersey — set in the 1970s — who is tasked with bailing his brother (Cumming) out of jail after being caught having sex with a man in a park. The brothers then set out on a road trip that tests their bond as they make their way back home. More information about this screening of can be found on .
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Honolulu Rainbow Film Festival to celebrate māhu stories
HONOLULU (KHON2) — The Hawaiʻi LGBT Legacy Foundation unveiled the schedule for their 36th Honolulu Rainbow Film Festival, built around the theme of 'Where Stories Take Root.' The festival will take place at the Doris Duke Theatre from June 27 to June 29, and the public is invited to buy tickets for the 'unforgettable celebration of queer storytelling, culture and community.' Polynesian Cultural Center to host free show in Lahaina Honolulu Rainbow Film Festival is one of the longest-running and esteemed queer film festivals in the nation, and will feature local, national and worldwide films. 'Queer storytelling and representation in media is so important for members of the LGBTQIA+/MVPFAFF+ community,' said Brent Anbe, the director of the festival. 'It fosters pride in authenticity, helping others to embrace their identity while reminding them that they are not alone.' The Honolulu Rainbow Film Festival schedule is as follows:June 27 at 7:30 p.m. 'SEAT 31: Zooey Zephyr,' a short film directed by Kimberly Reed, explores character Zooey Zephyr's expulsion from the Montana House of Representatives for defending transgender medical care, and her acts of resilience following her expulsion. 'Heightened Scrutiny,' the opening night feature film directed by Sam Feder, will follow character Chase Strangio, an ACLU attorney and the first openly transgender person to argue a case before the Supreme Court as he fights to overturn a ban on gender-affirming car for queer youth. June 28 at 1 p.m. 'Paradise of Thorns,' a matinee feature film directed by Boss Kuno, follows a queer individual coping with the loss of his partner and his fight to reclaim their home. Download the free KHON2 app for iOS or Android to stay informed on the latest news June 28 at 4 p.m. 'GiGi,' an animated short directed by Cynthia Calvi, follows the gender transition story of a mermaid. 'First Comes Love,' a short film directed by Kanaka director Sayla Uʻilani Whalen, is a coming-of-age romance between two teenage girls. Whalen will be in attendance at this showing. 'Sisters,' the centerpiece feature directed by Susie Yankou, follows two girls who discover one of them actually has a long-lost sister. Following the discovery, their relationship begins to strain. An actor from the film will be in attendance. June 28 at 7 p.m. 'The 7th Moon,' a short film directed by Hawaiʻi resident Tony Dia, reimagines the Filipino myth of Bakunawa and the seven moons as an allegory for abuse. Dia will be in attendance. 'Queens of the Dead,' a feature film directed by Tina Romero, follows drag queens and club kids as they battle zombies during an undead outbreak at a Brooklyn drag show. Kīlauea's eruptions uncover secrets of volcanic activity June 29 at 11 a.m. 'EKG,' a short film directed by Allan Q. Brocka, will follow an emergency room doctor coping with guilt and fear following his coming out. Brocka will be in attendance. 'Velvet Vision: The Story of James Bidgood and the Making of Pink Narcissus,' a documentary directed by Bart Every, follows visionary James Bidgood who was a prominent figure in 1960s queer art. Every will be in attendance. June 29 at 2 p.m. 'Just Between Us,' a short film directed by Zac Hug, follows a queer couple in an open relationship. The lead actors will be in attendance. 'Riley,' the festival's closing feature film directed by Benjamin Howard, follows a high school athlete as he faces conflict between his queer identity and societal standards. Howard and the lead actor will both be in attendance. VIP passes, as well as tickets for individual screenings and events are available to buy online, with discounts for students an kūpuna. To purchase tickets, visit Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'Heightened Scrutiny' details the high-stakes Supreme Court case over trans health care
The Supreme Court is expected to issue a decision in the next few weeks in a high-stakes case that could affect transgender people's access to transition-related care nationwide. The case, U.S. v. Skrmetti, concerns a law in Tennessee that prohibits certain care for minors, including puberty blockers and hormone therapy, and whether the restrictions are discriminatory on the basis of sex and transgender status. A new documentary, 'Heightened Scrutiny,' follows Chase Strangio, an American Civil Liberties Union attorney, as he represents trans youth, their families and a doctor who filed suit against the law in April 2023. Strangio became the first openly trans person to argue in front of the Supreme Court during oral arguments in December. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year and will show at NewFest, a queer film festival in New York, on May 29, and then at other film festivals across the country. The film's director, Sam Feder, said it is a follow-up to another documentary he directed called 'Disclosure,' which was released in 2020 and evaluated how trans people are depicted in film and television. 'The motivation to make that film was to explore how the rise in visibility could lead to backlash,' Feder said. 'I did not know it would be as terrifying as it is now.' 'Heightened Scrutiny' features interviews with trans activists including actress Laverne Cox, and with journalists including Jelani Cobb, dean of the Columbia Journalism School and a writer for The New Yorker; Lydia Polgreen, a New York Times opinion columnist; and Gina Chua, one of the most high-profile trans media executives. Much of the documentary focuses on the effects of increasing media coverage, particularly from The New York Times, on minors' access to transition-related care. Julie Hollar, a senior analyst at the media watchdog group FAIR, says in the documentary that she evaluated the Times' front page coverage for 12 months, and during that time, she said, the Times 'actually published more front page articles that framed trans people, the trans movement, as a threat to others than they did articles about trans people being threatened by this political movement.' The New York Times did not respond to a request for comment. Amy Scholder, who produced both 'Heightened Scrutiny' and 'Disclosure,' said that while researching media coverage of trans people over the last few years, she was astonished by how quickly much of the public appeared to go from celebrating trans visibility after 'Disclosure' to questioning it. 'It was disconcerting how many avowed feminists were questioning health care for trans adolescents and questioning the participation of trans people in sports, and especially adolescents in sports — things that just seemed so against my understanding and experience of what it means to be a feminist,' she said. She compared the public response to laws targeting trans youth to what she experienced during the AIDS epidemic, when people distanced themselves from the crisis because they didn't think it affected them or didn't want it to. 'Then the irony is,' Feder said, 'people thought it didn't affect them, but you chip away at anyone's bodily autonomy and you're chipping away at everyone's bodily autonomy.' The documentary shows that media coverage that is critical of transition care for minors has been referenced by state legislators trying to pass laws to restrict the care, and by states that are defending those laws in court, with Strangio saying at one point during the film that he had never previously seen news articles referenced so regularly as evidence in lawsuits. Feder said the film was originally going to focus entirely on media coverage, but Strangio's story allowed them to show viewers the real-world consequences of that coverage. They followed Strangio from July, just after the Supreme Court announced that it would hear the Skrmetti case, to Dec. 4, the day Strangio argued the case. The film shows Strangio the day after the election, a month before his oral arguments at the high court, when he says he's 'had moments of 'I can't do this again,' but then I wake up this morning and I think, 'F--- it, we fight.'' 'That's part of what is so extraordinary about him — he has that fight in him,' Scholder said. 'He knows how to be strategic, and he's such a brilliant legal mind and has always reminded us that we're going to take care of each other, and that these laws, for better or worse, will never actually take care of us.' Feder said that going forward, he hopes the film provokes conversations about how laws restricting transition-related care could have widespread effects outside of the trans community. He also said he hopes people will 'examine and understand how they want to be able to make decisions about their own body.' 'We're seeing state after state ban abortion, and soon it's going to be all contraception, and then it's who are you going to be able to marry, do you have any privacy in your own home? It's going there. This is one example of how we are a moment of complete civil liberty freefall,' he said. This article was originally published on
