Frameline Film Festival

History

The first festival was organized in 1976 and took place in 1977 at the Gay Community Center at 32 Page Street in San Francisco, under the names Persistence of Vision and the Gay Film Festival of Super-8 Films. It comprised experimental films, screened using a rented projector on a bedsheet pinned to a board. In 1982, the organizers incorporated under the name Frameline, and retired in 2008 after many years as director. A film distribution arm was founded in 1982. but this funding was withdrawn in the 1990s under pressure from Republicans in Congress.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, a small virtual event was held in June and the 2020 Frameline was delayed to September and was online except for a drive-in screening. Frameline 45, in 2021, was a hybrid online and in-person event. In 2022, Frameline returned to in-person screenings but offered a home streaming option.

Frameline initially grew out of the gay liberation movement and was focused on gay men. "Lesbian" was added to the festival's name in 1982, but a riot led by lesbians at a screening of Midi Onodera's Ten Cents a Dance: Parallax at the Roxie Theater during the 1986 festival led the organization to work toward greater diversity in programming and create a fund to assist women and people of color in completing film projects. The festival was widely referred to as the San Francisco International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival until 2005, when it adopted the name San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival;

In 2020 Frameline was a partner, alongside Outfest Los Angeles, the New York Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender Film Festival and the Inside Out Film and Video Festival, in launching the North American Queer Festival Alliance, an initiative to further publicize and promote LGBT film. Films screened at the Frameline Film Festival have been donated to the Hormel Center at the San Francisco Public Library. An initial donation was made in 2005, and the library partnered with the Bay Area Video Coalition for conservation of video recordings.

Awards

The festival's annual awards include the Frameline Award given to an individual who has played a key role in the history of LGBTQ+ cinema, the Out in the Silence Award for "an outstanding film project that highlights brave acts of visibility", audience awards for Best Feature, Best Documentary, Best Episodic, and Best Short, and juried awards for First Feature and Outstanding Documentary.

Frameline Award honorees

1986 Vito Russo

1987 Alexandra von Grote

1988 Divine

1989 Cinevista / Promovision

1990 Robert Epstein

1991 Elfi Mikesch

1992 Marlon Riggs

1993 Pratibha Parmar

1994 Christine Vachon

1995 Marcus Hu

1996 Peter Adair

1997 Channel Four Television

1998 Dolly Hall

1999 Stanley Kwan

2000 Barbara Hammer

2001 The Festival’s Founders

2002 Isaac Julien

2003 Fenton Bailey & Randy Barbato

2004 Rose Troche

2005 Gregg Araki

2006 François Ozon

2007 Andrea Sperling

2008 Michael Lumpkin

2009 George Kuchar & Mike Kuchar

2010 Wolfe Video

2011 Margaret Cho

2012 B. Ruby Rich

2013 Jamie Babbit

2014 George Takei

2015 Jeffrey Schwarz

2016 Bob Hawk

2017 Alan Cumming

2018 Debra Chasnoff

2019 Rodney Evans

Notable people

• Mark Finch
• Jenni Olson,

Notes

References

References

1. Johnson, G. Allen. (March 4, 2024). "Datebook: Exclusive: Frameline names new executive director". [[San Francisco Chronicle]].
2. Peach, Ricardo. (2005). "Queer cinema as a fifth cinema in South Africa and Australia". University of Technology, Sydney, Department of English.
3. "Queer Screen History". [[Queer Screen]].
4. Maskell, Emily. (August 23, 2024). "Queering cinema since the '70s: The fascinating history of LGBTQ+ film festivals".
5. Meyer, Carla. (May 26, 2004). "Gay festival trims name, adds screens". San Francisco Chronicle.
6. Johnson, G. Allen. (June 15, 2024). "Datebook: Frameline 48 won't be at the Castro Theatre. Here's where the LGBTQ film festival is celebrating instead". San Francisco Chronicle.
7. (January 20, 1995). "Gay Film Festival to Go On Despite Director's Vanishing". San Francisco Chronicle.
8. (2018). "Queer/ing film festivals: history, theory, impact". Studies in European Cinema.
9. Richards, Stuart James. (2016). "The Queer Film Festival: Popcorn and Politics". Palgrave Macmillan.
10. (2012). "Film festivals and Activism". St Andrews.
11. (February 2, 1977). "Gay Film Festival of Super-8 Films Program Guide". Frameline.
12. and the festival became '''Frameline: San Francisco International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival'''. Michael Lumpkin joined the organization at that time; he became a full-time employee in 1986, molded it into a professional film festival,Richards (2016) 47.
13. Wiegand, David. (June 18, 2008). "Curtain time for Frameline director". San Francisco Chronicle.
14. Parachini, Allan. (October 17, 1990). "NEA Investigation Exonerates S.F. Gay Film Festival: Endowment: The previously undisclosed inquiry is the first under the agency's controversial 1990 anti-obscenity controls". [[Los Angeles Times]].
15. Richards (2016) 30.
16. Johnson, G. Allen. (August 25, 2020). "Datebook: Frameline 44 announces lineup for virtual festival Sept. 17-27". San Francisco Chronicle.
17. [https://www.frameline.org/programs/frameline44 Frameline 44]. Frameline Festival.
18. [https://www.frameline.org/programs/frameline45 Frameline 45]. Frameline Festival.
19. Grady, Pam. (May 26, 2022). "Datebook: Frameline returns with new 'A League of Their Own' and more queer stories in 2022". San Francisco Chronicle.
20. Loist and Zielinski (2012) 51–52.
21. Richards (2016) 46.
22. (Fall 1996). "Festival Roundup: San Francisco International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival".
23. (August 1, 1999). "Empty Closets: The 1999 San Francisco International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival".
24. Wall, Alix. (June 20, 2003). "Anti-Israel protest at film fest irks local gay Jews, consulate".
25. Anderson-Minshall, Jacob. (November 7, 2007). "Much Ado About The Gendercator". [[Windy City Times]].
26. Majko, Matthew. (October 1, 2015). "Frameline film trove finds home at Hormel center". [[Bay Area Reporter]].
27. (October 6, 2011). "It just gets better all the time: Preserving the Hormel Center's Frameline Movie Archive Project".
28. "Festival Awards".
29. (8 January 1996). "The Word Is Out On Peter Adair / Film maker will get Frameline honor". San Francisco Chronicle.
30. Guthmann, Edward. (October 30, 2005). "Lethal Beauty / The Allure: Beauty and an easy route to death have long made the Golden Gate Bridge a magnet for suicides". San Francisco Chronicle.