Gay pride month - and all those letters! What do they stand for? And why the +?

You probably know the answer, or can Google it quicker than I can type it, but I thought I’d share an acronym I just learned about, SOGIE: Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression. It’s a cool way to open up the alphabet to an even more expansive view of what Pride month is all about. SOGIE is named after an anti-discrimination bill in the Phillipines that lawmakers and advocates have been trying to pass for over 20 years, called the SOGIE Bill. Let’s hope it passes soon.

Watch this short 2-part explainer about the definitions of Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression:

At WIFSFBA we’ve formed our purpose around our identities as women. Not around our sex, i.e. the biology we were born with, aka assigned at birth. Rather, we’re an organization that feels a shared experience of what it means to be female in our media. The more we support each others’ stories, the more different kinds of stories will be told. And the umbrella “woman” will expand.

Now that we acknowledge that gender isn’t binary, we have to open up the definition of women. If we at WIFSFBA are talking about industry discrimination based on gender, then what about others who are also discriminated against or held back based on gender - gender queer, transgender women...?

In this now-famous clip, the smartest lady in the land doesn’t pretend to know what a “woman” is, but she’s ready to hear anyone out who wants to make a claim.

Watch Rep. Marsha Blackburn question Justice Ketanji Jackson during confirmation hearings in March, 2022.

Frameline Film Festival

Ground zero for gay film is the Frameline Film Festival. The LGBTQ+ festivals where filmmakers and audiences came out and came of age were an essential part of the Gay Liberation movement. Frameline started in 1977 in San Francisco, and other queer festivals sprung up around the globe. The festival’s closing night film screens on the night before the Gay Pride event on the last weekend of June every year. Pride began as a riot, when lesbian, gay, and transgender patrons of the Stonewall Inn, a bar in the West Village of Manhattan, revolted against yet another police raid, which regularly arrested bar patrons for breaking the law against practicing homosexuality and cross-dressing. Pride was a revolt. Today, it’s a parade, with corporate sponsors. But in these time, as certain politicians and supreme court justices threaten to roll back gay rights, including gay marriage, I’ll be curious to see where the politics will land.

Lesbian Avengers, women who were marginalized from the male-dominated Gay Rights Movement, and from male-dominated culture in general, formed the first Dyke March in NYC in 1992 to bring attention to lesbian health and rights issues. This year marks the 30th Dyke March, in cities across the country, including San Francisco on Saturday June 25 in Dolores Park.

Check out the Frameline Film Festival schedule of events this month.

Frameline LGBTQ+ Film Grant Completion Fund

The Frameline LGBTQ+ Film Grant Completion Fund provides grants up to $5,000 to emerging and established filmmakers and is a source of financial contributions to artists who often struggle to secure funding to complete their works. The fund supports documentary, narrative, experimental, animated and episodic projects about LGBTQ+ people and their communities. Films submitted should represent and reflect LGBTQ+ life in all its complexity and richness.  Submission Deadline: October

New Voices Filmmaker Grant

NewFest, New York’s largest presenter of LGBTQ+ film & media and the largest convener of LGBTQ+ audiences in the city is partnering with Netflix to support emerging LGBTQ+ filmmakers with $25,000 in funding to create new work – in addition to mentorship, networking and professional development opportunities! Read more...

“By empowering the next generation of LGBTQ+ filmmakers, NewFest and Netflix will work to increase queer representation and support authentic stories that showcase the talent of queer storytellers.” —David Hatkoff, NewFest Executive Director

Submissions open: January 2023

INSTRUCTIONS    ( Submit your film by June 30, 2022 )

1. Email bod-admin@wifsfba.org with “Short Film Showcase Submission” in the subject line.

2. Include film info or media sheet including: Director, Producer, logline, 50 word description of story, full description about the film and story, 1-2 promotional images for the film.

3. Include a link to your film (Youtube, Vimeo, etc.) It is OK if it has been published or premiered already. Do not submit your film if it violates other distribution/festival agreements.

4. Include contact information so we can contact you in July: Name, email, phone number, role on the film. (If your film is selected, we will ask for headshot(s) & behind the scenes imagery if available)

For questions, please contact the WIFSFBA at bod-admin@wifsfba.org    Attn: Question - Short Film Showcase

WIFSFBA Member Robyn Bykofsky is the producer of the documentary A Place To Breathe, a feature doc about the refugee crisis seen through the stories of four families and the health implications and support they get once they arrive here in the U.S.

After a pandemic-era release, the film is now being screened locally, in Oakland’s New Parkway Theater. This venue is particularly resonant, as the Oakland-based Street Level Health Project, an essential service for immigrants and refugees in the Bay Area, is featured in the film. 

“A PLACE TO BREATHE explores the universality of trauma and resilience through the eyes of immigrant and refugee healthcare practitioners and patients. This 86-minute documentary intertwines the personal journeys of those who are transcending their own obstacles by healing others. Combining cinema vérité and animation, the film highlights the creative strategies by which immigrant communities in the U.S. survive and thrive.”

A PLACE TO BREATHE Screening

When: Monday, June 27th at 7pm

Where: New Parkway Theater, 474 24th St, Oakland, CA 94612 

Tickets: bit.ly/aptb-new-parkway 

(A portion of ticket sales will be donated to Street Level Health Project)

Film website: https://underexposedfilms.com/a-place-to-breathe

Trailer: https://bit.ly/trailer-aptb

The film will be followed by a Q&A with the filmmakers and members of Street Level Health Project.

Street Level Health Project is an Oakland-based community center dedicated to improving the wellbeing of underinsured, uninsured, and recently arrived immigrants in Alameda County.

The Berkeley Film Foundation is hosting the event which honors World Refugee and Immigrant Day (June 20th). 

Find out more about the film:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aplacetobreathefilm/

Instagram: @aplacetobreathe_film