12th Annual FIFF Film Series on The Bay!

Celebrate our 12th Annual Fabulous Independent Film Festival. We are inviting the community to explore queer cinema and see the beautiful grounds at College Hall. We will invite you for sunset and then for our shorts block followed a feature film.

Shorts Block:

Gap Year(s) A mini animation about how sometimes things take a very long time, whether that be getting over a breakup, or making art. As time moves on our own feelings shift and we may no longer feel the way we once did.

We March (Stronger Together) A protest song and music video inspired by an act of senseless homophobia and transphobia. Award-winning singer-songwriter and long-term transgender activist, Ryan Cassata leads the ballad with stories of his personal experience in fighting against oppression and violence while growing up trans. LA-based rock band Hello Noon come together with Ryan Cassata for incredible instrumentation including orchestral string arrangements.

Over 60 artists and activists joined this collective project to showcase their voices and raise awareness. Footage from various civil rights marches and demonstrations were donated from activists all over world. The video includes archival footage from the San Francisco Trans March, Black Lives Matter marches, candle light vigils, trans rallies, pride festivals, and women's marches. Randolfe Wicker proudly donated footage of his friend and legendary activist Marsha P. Johnson. Monica Helms, the creator of the transgender flag, is also highlighted in the music video documentary project.

Clayton Bryant, ASCAP-award winning songwriter, shines on the track, bringing a soulful touch to the song vocally. LA-activist music band Hello Noon and trans-musician Mya Byrne sing and bring instrumentation to the track, bringing it to life. Over 20 artists contributed to the tracks instrumentation and group vocals.

Queer Bodies A queer documentary filmmaker explores gender identity and queer bodies through the lives and works of other queer artists.

Warmth This film is about my life since starting testosterone, the joy and comfort I have felt since then. It is made entirely on fabric, which I have sewn into a quilt.

Don't Text Your Ex Surviving a global pandemic being queer, cute and still in love with your ex.

Feature Film:

ESTHER NEWTON MADE ME GAY

A feature documentary about a pathbreaking cultural anthropologist, dog agility enthusiast, and iconic butch lesbian. Now entering her seventh decade writing about queer communities, Esther Newton’s life’s work has influenced generations of activists and scholars.

ESTHER NEWTON MADE ME GAY explores the life and times of cultural anthropologist Esther Newton. Throughout her career, Esther was a pioneer—questioning and challenging status quo assumptions on gender, sexuality, and anthropological methods. Her work inspired generations of scholars to pursue research in what would eventually become the field of LGBTQ & Gender Studies.

The film tells her story of awakening to gay life in the 1950’s, the women’s liberation movement and lesbian-feminism, drag culture, and forging a butch identity which for her is now in conversation with trans-masculinity.

Keenly attuned to the cultural and societal forces that shaped her life, Esther guides us through an anthropology of herself, a study influenced by her love for a sport—competitive dog agility—that pairs her aging butch body with her beloved dog teammate on an obstacle course that is constantly changing.

In her persistent efforts to train her body back into shape after numerous health setbacks, we see the intense drive that has helped Esther navigate a lifetime of obstacles she faced in her quest to become who she wanted to be: a butch lesbian, scholar, and athlete.

Host or Publisher Harvey Milk Festival DBA Fabulous Arts Foundation