{{Short description|American filmmaker}} {{use mdy dates|date=July 2023}}'''Sam Feder''' is a transgender American filmmaker whose work is focused on the exploration of visibility regarding race, class, and gender.<ref name="guard-17nov2025">{{cite news |last1=Esposito |first1=Veronica |title=‘Fights for our material survival’: documentary goes inside the battle for trans rights |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/nov/17/heightened-scrutiny-trans-documentary-sam-feder |access-date=November 17, 2025 |work=The Guardian |date=November 17, 2025}}</ref> Feder is concerned with bringing visibility to trans people's experiences, and prefers to be identified with gender-neutral pronouns.<ref name=":2" /> They are best known for the 2020 documentary ''Disclosure''.<ref name="guard-17nov2025" /> Their films have been nominated for and received multiple awards, including The James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism, the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Documentary, and the Peabody Awards.
==Early life and education== Feder was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York.<ref name="Time">{{cite magazine |title=9 Moments That Show the Pain and Progress of Transgender Representation Onscreen |url=https://time.com/5855071/disclosure-netflix-transgender-representation/ |magazine=Time}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Sam Feder {{!}} DCTV |url=http://www.dctvny.org/workshops/instructors/sam-feder |website=www.dctvny.org}}</ref> At fifteen years old, Feder bought a Pentax K1000 camera, and used it to make photo essays on neglected children and racism in Brooklyn. In high school, they became an HIV activist.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Horak |first=Laura |title="Can We Be Visible in This Culture without Becoming a Commodity?": An Interview with Disclosure Director Sam Feder |url=https://read.dukeupress.edu/tsq/article-abstract/8/4/559/273086/Can-We-Be-Visible-in-This-Culture-without-Becoming |access-date=2023-11-03 |website=read.dukeupress.edu}}</ref> During adolescence, Feder struggled with their identity, specifically with the images they saw of trans people in media. In an interview with Suyin Haynes of ''Time Magazine'', they said "It wasn't really until I met trans people in real life did I understand; these images informed what I thought trans people were,"<ref name="Time" /> In 2004, they received an MA degree in media studies from the New School, New York.<ref>{{cite web |title=Sam Feder |url=http://newschoolmediastudies.org/alumni/sam-feder/ |website=School of Media Studies}}</ref> In 2013, they received an MFA degree from the Integrated Media Arts graduate program at Hunter College, New York.<ref>{{cite web |title=Sam Feder |url=https://fm.hunter.cuny.edu/ima-mfa-sam-feder-receives-filmmaking-grant/ |website=Department of Film & Media Studies, Hunter College|date=11 September 2013 }}</ref>
==Career and films== Feder's career has had a focus on the trans community and trans justice.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-11-20 |title=The Future Is Ours: Filmmakers Sam Feder and Yance Ford on Bringing Visibility to the Multitude of Trans Experiences - sundance.org |url=https://www.sundance.org/blogs/special-edition/sam-feder-yance-ford-trans-day-of-resilience/ |access-date=2023-11-03 |language=en-US}}</ref> Feder stated in an interview with Megan McFarland of ''Salon'', "I think I began to make films in my early twenties because I felt so alienated,".<ref>{{Cite web |last=McFarland |first=Melanie |date=2020-12-30 |title="Disclosure" director Sam Feder on the trans TV experience: "People don't know what they don't know" |url=https://www.salon.com/2020/12/30/disclosure-director-sam-feder-on-the-trans-tv-experience-people-dont-know-what-they-dont-know/ |access-date=2023-11-03 |website=Salon |language=en}}</ref> Feder has said in interviews that the images they saw in films and shows influenced their idea of trans people.<ref name="Time" /> Feder has spent their career since then making films about, and with, trans people. Specifically, when working on ''Disclosure'', Feder prioritized hiring trans people.<ref name="Decider" /> Whenever that was not possible, the cisgender person would be asked to mentor a fellow trans crewmember.<ref name="Decider" />
Feder's short films include the 2009 film ''No More Lies'', the 2010 film ''Billy: A Portrait Of A Dancer'', the 2010 film ''This All Happened Already'', and the 2019 film ''When The Dust Settles''.<ref name="sf-a">{{cite web |title=About |url=https://www.samfederfilms.com/about |website=Sam Feder |access-date=November 17, 2025}}</ref>
Feder's films include the 2006 feature ''Boy I Am,'' exploring tensions in lesbian communities around trans men coming out,<ref>{{cite web |title=Boy I Am: Gloriously Messy Look at FTM Experience Now on DVD |url=https://lavendermagazine.com/uncategorized/boy-i-am-gloriously-messy-look-at-ftm-experience-now-on-dvd/ |website=lavendermagazine.com |date=11 September 2008}}</ref>; the 2013 film ''Kate Bornstein is a Queer & Pleasant Danger,'' profiling the groundbreaking trans activist Kate Bornstein; the documentary film ''Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen'', exploring Hollywood's depiction of transgender people, and what impact those depictions have had on both the transgender community itself and American culture as a whole;<ref name=":2">{{cite web |last1=Farley |first1=Rebecca |title=Filmmaker Sam Feder On Why Representation Of Transgender Lives In Film Matters |url=https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2017/03/147517/transgender-movies-visibility-sam-feder |website=www.refinery29.com |language=en}}</ref><ref name="BFI">{{cite web |title=Sam Feder |url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2bd8a6ece7 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200807134706/https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2bd8a6ece7 |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 7, 2020 |website=BFI |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.samfederfilms.com/kate-bornstein-is-a-queer-pleasant-danger |title=Kate Bornstein is a Queer & Pleasant Danger |date=2014}}</ref> and the 2025 documentary ''Heightened Scrutiny'', featuring trans ACLU attorney Chase Strangio preparing to argue before the U.S. Supreme Court in ''United States v. Skrmetti''.<ref name="guard-17nov2025">{{cite news |last1=Esposito |first1=Veronica |title=‘Fights for our material survival’: documentary goes inside the battle for trans rights |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/nov/17/heightened-scrutiny-trans-documentary-sam-feder |access-date=November 17, 2025 |work=The Guardian |date=November 17, 2025}}</ref>
Feder was given a James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism in 2015 for the film ''Kate Bornstein is a Queer & Pleasant Danger''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Winners of the James Aronson Awards for Social Justice Journalism – Integrated Media Arts – MFA |url=https://ima-mfa.hunter.cuny.edu/alumni-news/winners-of-the-james-aronson-awards-for-social-justice-journalism/ |website=ima-mfa.hunter.cuny.edu/}}</ref> ''The Advocate'' also named ''Kate Bornstein is a Queer and Pleasant Danger'' one of the best documentaries in 2014.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Sam Feder |url=https://newschoolmediastudies.org/alumni/sam-feder/ |access-date=2023-11-03 |website=School of Media Studies |language=en-US}}</ref>
Feder's film ''Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen'' premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival<ref name="Sundance">{{cite web |last1=Friday |first1=Moi Santos |title=The Future Is Ours: Filmmakers Sam Feder and Yance Ford on Bringing Visibility to the Multitude of Trans Experiences |url=https://www.sundance.org/blogs/special-edition/sam-feder-yance-ford-trans-day-of-resilience |website=www.sundance.org |language=English}}</ref> and was released on Netflix the same year.<ref name="Decider">{{cite web |title=How 'Disclosure' Director Sam Feder Brought His Trans Visibility Documentary to Life |url=https://decider.com/2020/06/18/disclosure-netflix-director-interview-sam-feder/ |website=Decider |date=18 June 2020}}</ref><ref name="Salon">{{cite web |title="Disclosure" director Sam Feder on the trans TV experience: "People don't know what they don't know" |url=https://www.salon.com/2020/12/30/disclosure-director-sam-feder-on-the-trans-tv-experience-people-dont-know-what-they-dont-know/ |website=Salon |language=en |date=30 December 2020}}</ref> The film explores the representation of trans people in contemporary film.<ref name="Nation">{{cite magazine |last1=Milovina |first1=Tal |title=The Limits of Trans Representation as We Know It |url=https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/interview-sam-feder-disclousre-documentary/ |work=The Nation |date=7 July 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Wissot |first1=Lauren |title="We Prioritized Hiring Trans Crew, and When We Couldn't do That We Mentored Trans People on Set": Sam Feder on Disclosure |url=https://filmmakermagazine.com/109821-we-prioritized-hiring-trans-crew-and-when-we-couldnt-do-that-we-mentored-trans-people-on-set-sam-feder-on-disclosure/ |website=Filmmaker Magazine |date=19 June 2020}}</ref> ''The New York Times'' reviewed the film positively,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Bugbee |first1=Teo |title='Disclosure' Review: A Transgender Lens on Film and TV History |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/19/movies/disclosure-review-a-transgender-lens-on-film-and-tv-history.html |website=The New York Times |date=19 June 2020}}</ref> calling it "a sweeping examination of how transgender people have been depicted in film and TV, from the silent era to ''The Arsenio Hall Show'' to ''Pose''.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Piepenburg |first1=Erik |title=Transgender Lives Onscreen: Seen, but Not Always Believable |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/19/movies/transgender-lives-onscreen-tv.html |website=The New York Times |date=19 June 2020}}</ref> The film later won the Outstanding Documentary award at the 32nd GLAAD Media Awards in 2021, which Feder and executive producer Laverne Cox accepted.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-04-09 |title=32ND ANNUAL GLAAD MEDIA AWARDS RECIPIENTS INCLUDE: DISCLOSURE, SCHITT'S CREEK, SAM SMITH, CHIKA, HAPPIEST SEASON, I MAY DESTROY YOU, STAR TREK: DISCOVERY, THE BOYS IN THE BAND, VENENO, WE'RE HERE, AND THE NOT-TOO-LATE SHOW WITH ELMO {{!}} GLAAD |url=https://glaad.org/releases/32nd-annual-glaad-media-awards-recipients-include-disclosure-schitts-creek-sam-smith-chika/ |access-date=2023-11-03 |website=glaad.org |language=en-US}}</ref> ''Disclosure'' also received a nomination for the Peabody Awards.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Disclosure |url=https://peabodyawards.com/award-profile/disclosure/ |access-date=2023-11-03 |website=The Peabody Awards |language=en-US}}</ref>
Feder's films have been supported by many organizations, including the Jerome Foundation, Perspective Fund, Threshold, IFP Film Week, MacDowell Colony, and the Yaddo artist residency.<ref name=":1" />
==See also== * List of transgender film and television directors
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links == * {{official website|samfederfilms.com}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Feder, Sam}} Category:The New School alumni Category:Film directors from New York City Category:American LGBTQ film directors Category:Living people Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Non-binary directors