PHOTO SOURCE: FRAMELINE

Frameline, the nation's only non-profit organization solely dedicated to the funding, exhibition, distribution and promotion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender media arts, has announced the recipients of its annual Frameline Completion Fund. The announcement provides a glimpse of LGBT films that we may all soon enjoy in the coming months.

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 Eric Slade and Stephen Silha

This documentary explores the exceptional life of James Broughton, pre-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. “We Were There” is the first documentary to explore the untold story of the lesbian response to AIDS.