Frameline Film Festival

{{Short description|LGBTQ film festival in California, USA}} {{Use mdy dates|date=June 2013}} {{Infobox film festival | name = Frameline Film Festival | logo = | logo_alt = | logo_size = | image = San Francisco, June-2015 (19055061898).jpg | image_alt = Castro Theatre marquee advertising Frameline Festival | image_size = | caption = Castro Theatre during Frameline 39 in June 2015 | location = San Francisco and Oakland, California, USA | founded = 1977 | last = June 18–28, 2025 | host = Frameline | awards = Frameline Award, Out in the Silence Award, audience and juried awards | website = {{URL|http://frameline.org}} }}

The '''Frameline Film Festival''' (also known as '''San Francisco International LGBTQ+ Film Festival''') is an annual event that screens and celebrates films by and about LGBTQ people, established in 1976. The festival is organized by '''Frameline''', a nonprofit media arts organization whose mission statement is "to change the world through the power of queer cinema". Since 2024 the executive director of Frameline has been Allegra Madsen, formerly director of programming.<ref>{{cite news |first=G. Allen |last=Johnson |url=https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/movies-tv/allegra-madsen-frameline-18689612 |title=Datebook: Exclusive: Frameline names new executive director |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle |date=March 4, 2024 |orig-date=February 29, 2024 }}</ref>

It is the oldest LGBTQ+ film festival in the world,{{efn|Contrary to local legend the 1977 event in San Francisco was not the world's first gay film festival. That title goes to a "Festival of Gay Films" staged in Australia by the Sydney Filmmaker's Co-op in June 1976.<ref>{{cite thesis |first=Ricardo |last=Peach |title=Queer cinema as a fifth cinema in South Africa and Australia |type=PhD |year=2005 |publisher=University of Technology, Sydney, Department of English |url=https://search.lib.uts.edu.au/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=cdi_proquest_journals_3039733120&context=PC&vid=61UTS_INST:61UTS&lang=en&search_scope=MyInst_and_CI&adaptor=Primo%20Central&tab=Everything&query=any,contains,Queer%20cinema%20as%20a%20fifth%20cinema%20in%20South%20Africa%20and%20Australia&offset=0 |oclc=191828574 }}</ref> However, that was a one-time event. The Australian Film Institute founded the "Gay and Lesbian Film Festival" that became the direct precursor to today's Mardi Gras Sydney Gay Film Festival two years later, in 1978.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://queerscreen.org.au/about-us/history/|title=Queer Screen History |publisher=Queer Screen |access-date=August 3, 2025 }}</ref> Frameline, started in 1977, is therefore the oldest continuous annual gay film festival in the world.}} and with annual attendance ranging from 60,000 to 80,000, the largest LGBTQ+ film exhibition event.<ref name=Pink>{{cite news |first=Emily |last=Maskell |url=https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/08/23/lgbtq-film-festivals/ |title=Queering cinema since the '70s: The fascinating history of LGBTQ+ film festivals |website=PinkNews |date=August 23, 2024 }}</ref> It is also the most well-attended LGBTQ+ arts event in the San Francisco Bay Area.{{Citation needed|date=May 2019}}

The festival is held over eleven days in late June (reduced in 2004 from eighteen),<ref name=shortens>{{cite news |first=Carla |last=Meyer |url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/entertainment/article/gay-festival-trims-name-adds-screens-2773157.php |title=Gay festival trims name, adds screens |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle |date=May 26, 2004 }}</ref> with the closing night coinciding with San Francisco's annual Gay Pride Day, which takes place on the last Sunday of the month. The Castro Theatre has traditionally been the main venue.<ref>{{cite news |first=G. Allen |last=Johnson |url=https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/movies-tv/frameline-48-sf-castro-19471539 |title=Datebook: Frameline 48 won't be at the Castro Theatre. Here's where the LGBTQ film festival is celebrating instead |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle |date=June 15, 2024 }}</ref>

== History == The first festival was organized in 1976<ref name="Stack1995">{{Cite web |last1=Stack |first1=Peter |date=January 20, 1995 |title=Gay Film Festival to Go On Despite Director's Vanishing |url=https://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Gay-Film-Festival-to-Go-On-Despite-Director-s-3048864.php |work=San Francisco Chronicle |page=D1}}</ref> and took place in 1977<ref name=Pink/><ref name=Queer>{{cite journal |first1=Leanne |last1=Dawson |first2=Skadi |last2=Loist |title=Queer/ing film festivals: history, theory, impact |journal=Studies in European Cinema |volume=15 |issue=1 |year=2018 |pages=1–24 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17411548.2018.1442901#d1e183 |doi=10.1080/17411548.2018.1442901 }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite book |first=Stuart James |last=Richards |title=The Queer Film Festival: Popcorn and Politics |series=Framing Film Festivals |location=New York |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-137-59034-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WZDZDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA44 |page=44 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first1=Skadi |last1=Loist |first2=Ger |last2=Zielinski |contribution=On the Development of Queer Film Festivals and Their Media Activism |title=Film festivals and Activism |editor1-first=Dina |editor1-last=Iordanova |editor2-first=Leshu |editor2-last=Torchin |series=St Andrews Film Studies |publisher=St Andrews |year=2012 |isbn=9780956373069 |url=https://www.academia.edu/1502992/_On_the_Development_of_Queer_Film_Festivals_and_Their_Media_Activism_with_Ger_Zielinski_2012_ |page=49 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=February 2, 1977 |title=Gay Film Festival of Super-8 Films Program Guide |type=Frameline 1977 |url=https://issuu.com/frameline/docs/1st-sanfrancisco-international-lgbt-film-festival |via=issuu |publisher=Frameline}}</ref> In 1982, the organizers incorporated under the name Frameline,<ref name=Richards47/> and the festival became '''Frameline: San Francisco International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival'''.<ref name=Pink/> Michael Lumpkin joined the organization at that time; he became a full-time employee in 1986, molded it into a professional film festival,<ref name=Richards47>Richards (2016) 47.</ref> and retired in 2008 after many years as director.<ref>{{cite news |first=David |last=Wiegand |url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/entertainment/article/Curtain-time-for-Frameline-director-3209114.php |title=Curtain time for Frameline director |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle |date=June 18, 2008 }}</ref> A film distribution arm was founded in 1982.<ref name=Richards47/> In 1988, the festival received its first grant from the National Endowment for the Arts,<ref>Richards 2016) 48.</ref><ref name=LAT>{{cite news |last=Parachini |first=Allan |title=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 |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-10-17-ca-2468-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |date=October 17, 1990 |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241217100508/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-10-17-ca-2468-story.html |archive-date=December 17, 2024 }}</ref> but this funding was withdrawn in the 1990s under pressure from Republicans in Congress.<ref>Richards (2016) 30.</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite news |first=G. Allen |last=Johnson |url=https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/movies-tv/frameline-44-announces-lineup-for-virtual-festival-sept-17-27 |title=Datebook: Frameline 44 announces lineup for virtual festival Sept. 17-27 |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle |date=August 25, 2020 }}</ref><ref>[https://www.frameline.org/programs/frameline44 Frameline 44]. Frameline Festival.</ref> Frameline 45, in 2021, was a hybrid online and in-person event.<ref>[https://www.frameline.org/programs/frameline45 Frameline 45]. Frameline Festival.</ref> In 2022, Frameline returned to in-person screenings but offered a home streaming option.<ref>{{cite news |first=Pam |last=Grady |url=https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/movies-tv/frameline-returns-with-new-a-league-of-their-own-and-more-queer-stories-in-2022 |title=Datebook: Frameline returns with new 'A League of Their Own' and more queer stories in 2022 |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle |date=May 26, 2022 |orig-date=May 25, 2022 }}</ref>

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<ref>Loist and Zielinski (2012) 51–52.</ref> and create a fund to assist women and people of color in completing film projects.<ref>Richards (2016) 46.</ref> The festival was widely referred to as the '''San Francisco International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival'''<ref name=LAT/><ref>{{cite web |last1=Lofton |first1=Charles |title=Festival Roundup: San Francisco International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival |url=https://www.filmmakermagazine.com/archives/issues/fall1996/fests/sanfran.php |website=Filmmaker |date=Fall 1996}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Morris |first1=Gary |title=Empty Closets: The 1999 San Francisco International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival |url=https://brightlightsfilm.com/empty-closets-1999-san-francisco-international-lesbian-gay-film-festival/ |website=Bright Lights Film Journal |date=August 1, 1999}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Wall |first=Alix |title=Anti-Israel protest at film fest irks local gay Jews, consulate |url=https://www.jweekly.com/2003/06/20/anti-israel-protest-at-film-fest-irks-local-gay-jews-consulate/ |website=The Jewish News of Northern California |date=June 20, 2003}}</ref> until 2005, when it adopted the name '''San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival''';<ref name=Pink/> it added a ''Q'' in 2015,<ref name=Queer/> but since 2004 the organization has referred to individual festivals simply as "Frameline" with an appended number.<ref name=shortens/> Objections by the transgender community led Frameline to pull Catherine Crouch's ''The Gendercator'' from the 2007 festival, leading to accusations of censorship from lesbians.<ref>Loist and Zielinski (2012) 52.</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Jacob |last=Anderson-Minshall |author-link=Jacob Anderson-Minshall |url=https://windycitytimes.com/2007/11/07/much-ado-about-the-gendercator/ |title=Much Ado About The Gendercator |newspaper=Windy City Times |date=November 7, 2007 }}</ref>

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.<ref name=Pink/><ref>{{cite magazine |first=Jeff |last=Ewing |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffewing/2020/06/17/major-lgbtq-film-festivals-partner-to-create-the-north-american-queer-festival-alliance-naqfa/#497c15f9633c |title=Major LGBTQ Film Festivals Partner To Create The 'North American Queer Festival Alliance' (NAQFA) |magazine=Forbes |date=June 17, 2020 |type=contributor article }}</ref> Films screened at the Frameline Film Festival have been donated to the Hormel Center at the San Francisco Public Library.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Majko |first=Matthew |title=Frameline film trove finds home at Hormel center |url=http://ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=70947 |work=Bay Area Reporter |date=October 1, 2015 |access-date=October 13, 2015 |archive-date=September 23, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210923184417/https://ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=70947 |url-status=dead }}</ref> An initial donation was made in 2005, and the library partnered with the Bay Area Video Coalition for conservation of video recordings.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Cump |first1=Sarolta Jane |url=http://dayofdigitalarchives.blogspot.com/2011/10/it-just-gets-better-all-time-preserving.html |title=It just gets better all the time: Preserving the Hormel Center's Frameline Movie Archive Project |website=Day of Digital Archives |date=October 6, 2011 |access-date=October 13, 2015}}</ref>

== 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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.frameline.org/festival/awards|title=Festival Awards|website=Frameline|access-date=August 3, 2025|url-status=live|archive-date=June 13, 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250613161503/https://www.frameline.org/festival/awards}}</ref>

=== 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<ref>{{cite news |last1=Guthman |first1=Edward |title=The Word Is Out On Peter Adair / Film maker will get Frameline honor |url=https://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/The-Word-Is-Out-On-Peter-Adair-Film-maker-will-2999181.php |date=8 January 1996 |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle |accessdate=21 August 2018}}</ref> 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<ref name=suicide>{{cite news |first=Edward |last=Guthmann |url=https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Lethal-Beauty-The-Allure-Beauty-and-an-easy-3302966.php |title=Lethal Beauty / The Allure: Beauty and an easy route to death have long made the Golden Gate Bridge a magnet for suicides|newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle |date=October 30, 2005 }}</ref> *Jenni Olson<ref name=suicide/>

==See also== {{Portal|Film|San Francisco Bay Area|LGBTQ}} * Cinema of the United States * List of LGBT film festivals

==Notes== {{notelist}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * {{Official website|http://www.frameline.org/}} * [https://www.frameline.org/festival/archives Festival archives] * [https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8nc65qz/entire_text/ Frameline Film Festival Collection] at Online Archive of California * [https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/28608643 San Francisco International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival] at WorldCat * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyBDdY_TW9w&list=PL3CF0E0C357FC8D0D Frameline Film Festival Trailers YouTube Playlist]

Category:1977 establishments in California Category:Annual events in California Category:Film festivals established in 1977 Category:Film festivals in the San Francisco Bay Area Category:LGBTQ film festivals in the United States Category:LGBTQ culture in San Francisco Category:LGBTQ events in California