# Sam Feder
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{{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.[{{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](/source/The_Guardian) |date=November 17, 2025}}] Feder is concerned with bringing visibility to trans people's experiences, and prefers to be identified with [gender-neutral pronouns](/source/gender-neutral_pronouns).[{{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}}][{{cite web |title=Sam Feder {{!}} DCTV |url=http://www.dctvny.org/workshops/instructors/sam-feder |website=www.dctvny.org}}] At fifteen years old, Feder bought a [Pentax K1000](/source/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](/source/HIV%2FAIDS_activism).[{{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}}] 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](/source/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,"[{{cite web |title=Sam Feder |url=http://newschoolmediastudies.org/alumni/sam-feder/ |website=School of Media Studies}}] In 2013, they received an [MFA degree](/source/MFA_degree) from the Integrated Media Arts graduate program at [Hunter College, New York](/source/Hunter_College).[{{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 }}]
==Career and films==
Feder's career has had a focus on the trans community and trans justice.[{{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}}] Feder stated in an interview with Megan McFarland of ''[Salon](/source/Salon.com)'', "I think I began to make films in my early twenties because I felt so alienated,".[{{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}}] Feder has said in interviews that the images they saw in films and shows influenced their idea of trans people.[{{cite web |title=About |url=https://www.samfederfilms.com/about |website=Sam Feder |access-date=November 17, 2025}}]
Feder's films include the 2006 feature ''Boy I Am,'' exploring tensions in lesbian communities around trans men coming out,[{{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}}]; the 2013 film ''Kate Bornstein is a Queer & Pleasant Danger,'' profiling the groundbreaking trans activist [Kate Bornstein](/source/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;[{{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}}][{{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}}][{{cite web |url=https://www.samfederfilms.com/kate-bornstein-is-a-queer-pleasant-danger |title=Kate Bornstein is a Queer & Pleasant Danger |date=2014}}] and the 2025 documentary ''Heightened Scrutiny'', featuring trans [ACLU](/source/ACLU) attorney [Chase Strangio](/source/Chase_Strangio) preparing to argue before the [U.S. Supreme Court](/source/U.S._Supreme_Court) in ''[United States v. Skrmetti](/source/United_States_v._Skrmetti)''.[{{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](/source/The_Guardian) |date=November 17, 2025}}]
Feder was given a [James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism](/source/James_Aronson_Award_for_Social_Justice_Journalism) in 2015 for the film ''Kate Bornstein is a Queer & Pleasant Danger''.[{{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/}}] ''[The Advocate](/source/The_Advocate_(magazine))'' also named ''Kate Bornstein is a Queer and Pleasant Danger'' one of the best documentaries in 2014.[{{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}}]
Feder's film ''[Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen](/source/Disclosure%3A_Trans_Lives_on_Screen)'' premiered at the 2020 [Sundance Film Festival](/source/Sundance_Film_Festival)[{{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}}] and was released on [Netflix](/source/Netflix) the same year.[{{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}}][{{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}}] The film explores the representation of trans people in contemporary film.[{{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](/source/The_Nation) |date=7 July 2020}}][{{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}}] ''[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)'' reviewed the film positively,[{{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}}] 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](/source/The_Arsenio_Hall_Show)'' to [''Pose''](/source/Pose_(TV_series)).[{{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}}] The film later won the [Outstanding Documentary award](/source/GLAAD_Media_Award_for_Outstanding_Documentary) at the [32nd GLAAD Media Awards](/source/32nd_GLAAD_Media_Awards) in 2021, which Feder and executive producer [Laverne Cox](/source/Laverne_Cox) accepted.[{{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}}] ''Disclosure'' also received a nomination for the [Peabody Awards](/source/Peabody_Awards).[{{Cite web |title=Disclosure |url=https://peabodyawards.com/award-profile/disclosure/ |access-date=2023-11-03 |website=The Peabody Awards |language=en-US}}]
Feder's films have been supported by many organizations, including the [Jerome Foundation](/source/Jerome_Foundation), Perspective Fund, Threshold, IFP Film Week, [MacDowell Colony](/source/MacDowell_(artists'_residency_and_workshop)), and the [Yaddo](/source/Yaddo) artist residency.