San Francisco Transgender Film Festival Returns with Diverse Programming
The San Francisco Transgender Film Festival makes a return with a lineup featuring comedy, documentary, horror, and speculative fiction, offering a platform for trans voices and stories.
The San Francisco Transgender Film Festival, founded in 1997, is returning to the Roxie Theater for in-person shows from November 12 to 14, with streaming options available from November 15 to 22 (source ID 1). This year’s festival features 30-odd short films grouped by theme, with selections from the US and international locations such as Germany, Brazil, South Africa, Australia, and Costa Rica. The first program, dedicated to ‘Comedy,’ includes films like Cockroach and Flash Sale, highlighting trans narratives with humor and entrepreneurial themes. [1]
The second program of the festival is entirely documentary, showcasing diverse stories such as 3 Hearts of Iron, which follows Costa Rican trans athletes participating in an Iron Man triathlon, and Reef, an 89-year-old Spanish grandmother supportive of her trans grandchild. The ‘Horror’ bill features a mix of tongue-in-cheek and serious offerings, including Kylie Aoibheann’s The Dysphoria, which delivers seriously creepy vibes as a couple’s candlelit occult ritual goes awry (source ID 1). [1]
A ‘Grab Bag’ program encompasses a variety of genres, including music video, animation, dance, and an ambiguous stranger-danger thriller. Notable entries include Mariales Diaz’s Today & Tmrw, a nuanced dramatic miniature about a downlow relationship, and Sarah Hill’s The Door Is Open, a poetic experimental mix of stop-motion and other techniques. The festival also includes a ‘Speculative Fiction’ package with themes ranging from mermaids to time travel, offering a poignant closure for a trans woman in Tilly & Susan Bridges’ Long Away (source ID 1). [1]
The San Francisco Transgender Film Festival, founded in 1997, is returning to the Roxie Theater for in-person shows from November 12 to 14, with streaming options available from November 15 to 22 (source ID 1). The festival features a variety of programs, including a second program entirely dedicated to documentary films. Among the highlights is 3 Hearts of Iron, which follows Costa Rican trans athletes participating in an Iron Man triathlon, and Reef, an 89-year-old Spanish grandmother supportive of her trans grandchild (source ID 1). [1]
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A ‘Grab Bag’ program encompasses a variety of genres, including music video, animation, dance, and an ambiguous stranger-danger thriller (source ID 1). The festival includes no feature-length films this year, but offers 30-odd shorts grouped by theme, most originating from the US—though there are also titles from Germany, Brazil, South Africa, Australia, Costa Rica and more (source ID 1). [1]
Program #1’s four selections are dedicated to “Comedy,” with Hedwig’s John Cameron Mitchell playing a kinda-sorta-gay male john to writer-director Justice Singleton’s reluctant sex worker in Cockroach, and similar entrepreneurial ingenuity highlighted in Autumn Boxley’s funny Flash Sale, in which two trans dudes seeking top surgery cash ponder the possibilities of OnlyFans (source ID 1). [1]
The San Francisco Transgender Film Festival, founded in 1997, is returning to the Roxie Theater for in-person shows from November 12 to 14, with streaming options available from November 15 to 22 (source ID 1). This year’s festival features a variety of programs, including a dedicated ‘Comedy’ section with films such as Cockroach, in which John Cameron Mitchell plays a kinda-sorta-gay male john to writer-director Justice Singleton’s reluctant sex worker, and Autumn Boxley’s Flash Sale, which explores the entrepreneurial endeavors of two trans dudes seeking top surgery cash (source ID 1). [1]
Program #2 of the festival is entirely documentary, showcasing diverse stories such as 3 Hearts of Iron, which follows Costa Rican trans athletes participating in an Iron Man triathlon, and Reef, an 89-year-old Spanish grandmother supportive of her trans grandchild (source ID 1). The ‘Horror’ bill includes a mix of tongue-in-cheek and serious selections, with Kylie Aoibheann’s The Dysphoria providing seriously creepy vibes as a couple’s candlelit occult ritual naturally goes very wrong (source ID 1). [1]
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A ‘Grab Bag’ program encompasses a variety of genres, including music video, animation, dance, and an ambiguous stranger-danger thriller (source ID 1). The festival also includes a ‘Speculative Fiction’ package featuring mermaids, pregnancy, sci-fi, and time travel, with Tilly & Susan Bridges’ poignant Long Away providing a trans woman with familial closure (source ID 1). Finally, Program 6 is labeled ‘Adult,’ with no one under 18 admitted, and plenty of playful raunch on display (source ID 1). [1]
The San Francisco Transgender Film Festival, founded in 1997, is returning to the Roxie Theater for in-person shows from November 12 to 14, with streaming options available from November 15 to 22 (source ID 1). This year's festival features a variety of programs, including comedy, documentary, horror, and speculative fiction, showcasing a range of trans-related stories and themes. Program #1’s four selections are dedicated to “Comedy,” with Hedwig’s John Cameron Mitchell playing a kinda-sorta-gay male john to writer-director Justice Singleton’s reluctant sex worker in Cockroach, and similar entrepreneurial ingenuity highlighted in Autumn Boxley’s funny Flash Sale (source ID 1). [1]
Program 2 is all documentary, including portraits of Costa Rican trans athletes doing an Iron Man triathlon (3 Hearts of Iron), an annual celebration of “trans Black euphoria” in Puerto Rico (Hustleween), an 89-year-old Spanish grandma supportive of her trans grandchild (Reef), and a Japanese-American electrologist who only takes MTF clients (One of the Girls) (source ID 1). The “Horror” bill is largely tongue-in-cheek, with humor present to varying degrees in Canadian furry tale Mascott, the fanged US Vamped, and witchy South African Dread. But arguably the best selection, Kylie Aoibheann’s The Dysphoria, provides seriously creepy vibes as a couple’s candlelit occult ritual naturally goes very wrong (source ID 1). [1]
A “Grab Bag” program encompasses music video, animation, dance, and an ambiguous stranger-danger thriller (Peter). Particularly worthwhile are Mariales Diaz’s Today & Tmrw, a nuanced dramatic miniature about a downlow relationship, and Sarah Hill’s “cinematic spell” The Door Is Open, a poetic experimental mix of stop-motion and other techniques (source ID 1). A “Speculative Fiction” package features mermaids, pregnancy, sci-fi and time travel—the latter providing a trans woman with familial closure in Tilly & Susan Bridges’ poignant Long Away (source ID 1). [1]
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