Frameline Film Festival
Encyclopedia
Frameline is a nonprofit media arts organization that produces the San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival, the oldest film festival
devoted to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT
) programming currently in existence. Frameline's mission statement is "to strengthen the diverse lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and further its visibility by supporting and promoting a broad array of cultural representations and artistic expression in film, video and other media arts."
With annual attendance of 60,000 to 80,000 it is the largest LGBT film exhibition event in the world and it is the most well attended LGBT arts event in the San Francisco Bay Area
.
as "a storefront event in 1976" at 32 Page Street, while the official website for the Festival's organizers, Frameline, describes the festival as "Founded in 1977". The first screening, in February 1977 at the now-demolished Gay Community Center at 330 Grove Street, was called "Gay Film Festival of Super 8 Films" and the founders cited included Daniel Nicoletta
, David Waggoner, and Marc Huestis
. From 1977 to 1980, the festival was primarily at the Roxie Theater at 16th and Valencia Streets, and then at the Roxie and the Castro Theater at Castro and Market Streets.
The festival has encountered difficulties through its lifetime, most notably the suicide of director Mark Finch
in 1995. Finch jumped to his death from the Golden Gate Bridge
, an event that inspired former co-director Jenni Olson
's film The Joy of Life
. Finch has been cited as instrumental as helping the festival achieve international stature. Tess Martin, then executive director of festival sponsor Frameline Films stated "It really is international, and Mark Finch made that happen because he was involved in the international film world. He was an expert, he had a vision about it."
In 2004 the festival changed its name to the shorter Frameline28, the festival being the 28th annual event. Subsequent festivals have followed this naming pattern. In October 2008, K. C. Price, former director of the SF Ninth Street Film Center, was named executive director of Frameline, joining Jennifer Morris as artistic director.
Frameline35 will take place June 16–26, 2010, at the Castro, Roxie, and Victoria Theaters in San Francisco. The festival will include more than 250 features
and short films, from narratives and documentaries to experimental and animated works.
hosted Bi Request a program of short films curated by Amy André, comprising a selection of films made by bisexual
directors and/or about bisexual subjects. In their introduction to the evening, Frameline noted that "Bi Request was inspired by Frameline’s ongoing commitment to promote bisexual visibility and display bi images in film."
Additionally, two other bisexual themed feature films were presented, The DL Chronicles and The Two Sides of the Bed (Los dos lados de la cama).
and the South West Asian, North African Bay Area Queers (SWANABAQ) initiated a campaign to pressure Frameline to end its relationship with the Israeli government.http://www.ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=1838http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article6966.shtml In an open letter signed by more than 100 artists and writers, including Sophie Fiennes
, Elia Suleiman
, Ken Loach
, John Berger
, Arundhati Roy
, Ahdaf Soueif
, Eduardo Galeano
, Brian Eno
, and Leon Rosselson
, Frameline was asked "to honor calls for an international boycott of Israeli political and cultural institutions
, by discontinuing Israeli consulate sponsorship of the LGBT film festival and not cosponsoring events with the Israeli consulate."http://www.ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=1838http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article6966.shtml
In June 2007, Frameline made the unprecedented decision to pull a juried and listed film, The Gendercator, directed by Catherine Crouch
, from the 2007 Festival weeks before the opening. Protests and debates surrounded the decision about the film came from mainly transgender activists and community members. Some denounced the 20-minute science fiction piece as demonising and slandering transgender people while others in the same communities protested what they saw as censorship. The film subsequently was both shown and pulled from other LGBT-related film festivals and continues to be used as a source for discussion on transgender issues, perspectives and censorship.
Film festival
A film festival is an organised, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theaters or screening venues, usually in a single locality. More and more often film festivals show part of their films to the public by adding outdoor movie screenings...
devoted to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
) programming currently in existence. Frameline's mission statement is "to strengthen the diverse lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and further its visibility by supporting and promoting a broad array of cultural representations and artistic expression in film, video and other media arts."
With annual attendance of 60,000 to 80,000 it is the largest LGBT film exhibition event in the world and it is the most well attended LGBT arts event in the San Francisco Bay Area
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...
.
Awards
The festival gives out four awards, the "Frameline Award", the "Best Documentary Award", the "First Feature Award", and an "Audience Award".History
The festival's founding has been described in the San Francisco ChronicleSan Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
as "a storefront event in 1976" at 32 Page Street, while the official website for the Festival's organizers, Frameline, describes the festival as "Founded in 1977". The first screening, in February 1977 at the now-demolished Gay Community Center at 330 Grove Street, was called "Gay Film Festival of Super 8 Films" and the founders cited included Daniel Nicoletta
Daniel Nicoletta
Daniel Nicoletta is an American photographer, photo journalist and gay rights activist.-Biography:Born in New York City, Daniel Nicoletta was raised in Utica, NY. In his late teens he left New York to attend San Francisco State University, later graduating from the Bachelor of Arts program...
, David Waggoner, and Marc Huestis
Marc Huestis
Marc Huestis is an award winning filmmaker, camp impresario and social activist. He is best known for his motion picture Sex Is... and his in-person tributes/benefit events feting celebrities from Hollywood's Golden Age and cult personas at San Francisco's Castro Theatre.- Early life :Huestis was...
. From 1977 to 1980, the festival was primarily at the Roxie Theater at 16th and Valencia Streets, and then at the Roxie and the Castro Theater at Castro and Market Streets.
The festival has encountered difficulties through its lifetime, most notably the suicide of director Mark Finch
Mark Finch
Mark Finch was an English promoter of LGBT cinema. Having founded and expanded several international film festivals he created the first LGBT film market for distributors, sales agents, and independent film producers....
in 1995. Finch jumped to his death from the Golden Gate Bridge
Golden Gate Bridge
The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the opening of the San Francisco Bay into the Pacific Ocean. As part of both U.S. Route 101 and California State Route 1, the structure links the city of San Francisco, on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula, to...
, an event that inspired former co-director Jenni Olson
Jenni Olson
Jenni Olson was born and raised in Falcon Heights, Minnesota. Olson is a film exhibition curator, director, award winning documentary filmmaker, and author. Olson co-founded and still writes for PlanetOut.com, and campaigned to have a barrier erected on the Golden Gate Bridge.-Biography:Olson was...
's film The Joy of Life
The Joy of Life
The Joy of Life is an experimental landscape documentary film about the history of suicide and the Golden Gate Bridge, and the adventures of a butch lesbian in San Francisco, California. This feature-length film world premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2005.-External links:* *...
. Finch has been cited as instrumental as helping the festival achieve international stature. Tess Martin, then executive director of festival sponsor Frameline Films stated "It really is international, and Mark Finch made that happen because he was involved in the international film world. He was an expert, he had a vision about it."
In 2004 the festival changed its name to the shorter Frameline28, the festival being the 28th annual event. Subsequent festivals have followed this naming pattern. In October 2008, K. C. Price, former director of the SF Ninth Street Film Center, was named executive director of Frameline, joining Jennifer Morris as artistic director.
Frameline35 will take place June 16–26, 2010, at the Castro, Roxie, and Victoria Theaters in San Francisco. The festival will include more than 250 features
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
and short films, from narratives and documentaries to experimental and animated works.
Inclusion
In 2007 Frameline in conjunction with the Bay Area Bisexual NetworkBay Area Bisexual Network
Bay Area Bisexual Network is social and networking group in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is the oldest and largest bisexual group in the San Francisco Bay Area...
hosted Bi Request a program of short films curated by Amy André, comprising a selection of films made by bisexual
Bisexuality
Bisexuality is sexual behavior or an orientation involving physical or romantic attraction to both males and females, especially with regard to men and women. It is one of the three main classifications of sexual orientation, along with a heterosexual and a homosexual orientation, all a part of the...
directors and/or about bisexual subjects. In their introduction to the evening, Frameline noted that "Bi Request was inspired by Frameline’s ongoing commitment to promote bisexual visibility and display bi images in film."
Additionally, two other bisexual themed feature films were presented, The DL Chronicles and The Two Sides of the Bed (Los dos lados de la cama).
Controversies
In March 2007, Queers Undermining Israeli TerrorismQueers Undermining Israeli Terrorism
Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism was founded in early 2001 by members of and individuals formerly associated with DAGGER , which was active during the first Gulf War.-Goals:...
and the South West Asian, North African Bay Area Queers (SWANABAQ) initiated a campaign to pressure Frameline to end its relationship with the Israeli government.http://www.ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=1838http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article6966.shtml In an open letter signed by more than 100 artists and writers, including Sophie Fiennes
Sophie Fiennes
Sophia Victoria Twisleton Wykeham-Fiennes , known as Sophie Fiennes, is an English film director and producer.-Career:Following a foundation course in painting at Chelsea School of Art, Fiennes worked with director Peter Greenaway from 1987–1992. She managed the UK based dance company, The Michael...
, Elia Suleiman
Elia Suleiman
Elia Suleiman , is a Palestinian film director and actor. He is best known for the 2002 film Divine Intervention , a modern tragic comedy on living under occupation in Palestine which won the Jury Prize at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival...
, Ken Loach
Ken Loach
Kenneth "Ken" Loach is a Palme D'Or winning English film and television director.He is known for his naturalistic, social realist directing style and for his socialist beliefs, which are evident in his film treatment of social issues such as homelessness , labour rights and child abuse at the...
, John Berger
John Berger
John Peter Berger is an English art critic, novelist, painter and author. His novel G. won the 1972 Booker Prize, and his essay on art criticism Ways of Seeing, written as an accompaniment to a BBC series, is often used as a university text.-Education:Born in Hackney, London, England, Berger was...
, Arundhati Roy
Arundhati Roy
Arundhati Roy is an Indian novelist. She won the Booker Prize in 1997 for her novel, The God of Small Things, and has also written two screenplays and several collections of essays...
, Ahdaf Soueif
Ahdaf Soueif
Ahdaf Soueif is an Anglo-Egyptian novelist and political and cultural commentator.-Life and career:Soueif was born in Cairo and educated in Egypt and England...
, Eduardo Galeano
Eduardo Galeano
Eduardo Hughes Galeano is a Uruguayan journalist, writer and novelist. His best known works are Memoria del fuego and Las venas abiertas de América Latina which have been translated into twenty languages and transcend orthodox genres: combining fiction, journalism, political analysis, and...
, Brian Eno
Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
, and Leon Rosselson
Leon Rosselson
Leon Rosselson is an English songwriter and writer of children's books. After his early involvement in the folk music revival in Britain, he came to prominence, singing his own satirical songs, in the BBC's topical TV programme of the early 1960s, That Was The Week That Was...
, Frameline was asked "to honor calls for an international boycott of Israeli political and cultural institutions
Economic and political boycotts of Israel
Boycotts of Israel are economic and political cultural campaigns or actions that seek a selective or total cutting of ties with the State of Israel...
, by discontinuing Israeli consulate sponsorship of the LGBT film festival and not cosponsoring events with the Israeli consulate."http://www.ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=1838http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article6966.shtml
In June 2007, Frameline made the unprecedented decision to pull a juried and listed film, The Gendercator, directed by Catherine Crouch
Catherine Crouch
Catherine Crouch is an acclaimed lesbian filmmaker whose film The Gendercator garnered controversy in 2007.-Filmography:*Osco Bag *Vanilla Lament - 16mm - *One Small Step - 16mm - *A Christmas Sacrifice *Stray Dogs...
, from the 2007 Festival weeks before the opening. Protests and debates surrounded the decision about the film came from mainly transgender activists and community members. Some denounced the 20-minute science fiction piece as demonising and slandering transgender people while others in the same communities protested what they saw as censorship. The film subsequently was both shown and pulled from other LGBT-related film festivals and continues to be used as a source for discussion on transgender issues, perspectives and censorship.