SAN FRANCISCO, CA—Frameline, the nation's only non-profit organization solely dedicated to the funding, exhibition, distribution and promotion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) media arts, has announced the recipients of its annual Frameline Completion Fund. Executive Director K.C. Price said, “It is such an honor to support these seven excellent film projects, each of which reflects the talent, diversity and marvelous current state of LGBT film.” Since 1990, Frameline has awarded completion funding to more than 100 film and video projects by and about the LGBT community.
Past recipients of the Frameline Completion Fund include Dee Rees' Pariah, Rashaad Ernesto Green's Gun Hill Road, Cynthia Wade’s Oscar-winning Freeheld, and David Weissman’s We Were Here: Voices From the AIDS Years.
This year, the Frameline Completion Fund received 84 submissions, the most submissions ever, and awarded a total of $25,000 in funding to seven independent film and video works that are in the final stages of production.
An independent jury selected the following seven recipients of this year’s grants:
George Takei: Terrestrial Helmsman
Directed by Jennifer M. Kroot
Terrestrial Helmsman examines the life of actor George Takei: a gay man, a Japanese American, and a civil rights activist who rose to fame by driving a spaceship.
Kate Bornstein is a Queer & Pleasant Danger
Directed by Sam Feder
This documentary explores the rich life and work of celebrated author, gender theorist and transsexual activist Kate Bornstein. It explores Kate’s artistic practice, her influences and the way she has created language, space, and permission for generations of people to live their lives.
Gayby
Directed by Jonathan Lisecki
Best friends Matt (gay and heartbroken) and Jenn (straight and single by choice) fulfill their old promise to have a child together – the old fashioned way. Gayby is an irreverent comedy about friendship, sex, loneliness, and the families we choose.
Big Joy Project
Directed by Steven Silha and Eric Slade
This documentary explores the exceptional life of James Broughton, Beat poet, filmmaker, and affectionately known as the "Father of West Coast experimental film."
The Happy Sad
Directed by Rodney Evans
This feature-length narrative follows two couples, one black and one white, whose lives collide as they navigate open relationships and sexual identity. The Happy Sad explores the questions that alternative twenty- and thirty-year olds face in a culture where there appears to be endless possibilities for sex but also a resistance to any definitive model for a proper relationship.
The New Black
Directed by Yoruba Richen
This documentary uncovers the complicated and often combative histories of the African-American and LGBT civil rights movements. Specifically, the film examines homophobia in the black community’s institutional pillar: the black church.
We Were There
Directed by Emmanuelle Antolin
Through interviews and archival material, We Were There reveals the personal, political, and cultural impact of the lesbian response to the early AIDS crisis. It is the first documentary to explore the untold story of the lesbian response to AIDS.
The Frameline Completion Fund was established in 1990 to provide support to filmmakers whose work is consistent with the goals of Frameline, and brings much needed financial assistance to exciting new LGBT media arts projects. Submissions are accepted for documentary, educational, narrative, animation, and experimental projects about LGBT people and their communities. The Fund also seeks to bring new work to under-served audiences; with this in mind, submissions by women and people of color are especially encouraged.
The Frameline Completion Fund is supported in part by the Bob Ross Foundation.