SF Urban Film Festival presents “Trans World-Building”
Thursday April 18, 2024 | 6-8pm (Doors 5:30pm)
At the Tenderloin Museum | 398 Eddy St. SF, CA 94102
Free or Sliding Scale Admission | Register via the SFUFF website
The SF Urban Film Festival returns to TLM for a program called “Trans World-Building” that asks, “how do gender-expansive people shape the worlds they occupy, even as they are restricted within them?” Curated by Kaiya Gordon & LB Byrd.
Ten years after the “Transgender Tipping Point,” it’s clear that the only thing that has “tipped” forward is the proliferation of laws and discourses which aim to limit trans life-building. Predominant conservative arguments from writers published in mainstream outlets who identify as “gender critical” (neé “TERF”) abound, “transvestigations” of celebrities and athletes multiply online, and more and more legislation targeting trans people seems to be introduced each day. In the mainstream imagination, trans adults are groomers, pedophiles, and deviants who should be limited in how and when they take up public space; and trans youth are confused, damaged, and should be restricted from making decisions about how to be and build a new world.
Within this trans-antagonistic atmosphere, this program asks: how do gender-expansive people shape the spaces they occupy, even as they are restricted within them?
For this program only, the panel discussion will be recorded and uploaded on to the SF Urban Film Fest YouTube channel after the festival.
The Films:
The Neighbour (Turkey, 2021, 20 min) Directed by Cedoy
Bulut moves to a new flat but is on the hook with the landlord. "The Neighbour" is a Yesilcam-style graduation film looking at the everlasting housing problems of trans communities in Istanbul.
KILL YOUR LANDLORD (USA, 2023, 10 min) Directed by Jill Hill
In the city of Scam Francisco, three roommates find a hidden kitchen behind one of the walls of their one room apartment.
A Bird Called Memory (Brazil/UK, 2023, 15 min) Directed by Leonardo Martinelli
A bird called Memory has forgotten how to come back home. Lua, a trans woman, tries to find Memory in the streets, but the city can be a hostile place.
Passing: Profiling the Lives of Young Transmen of Color (USA, 2015, 22 min) Directed by J. Mitchel Reed & Lucah Rosenberg-Lee
Profiling the lives of three young transmen of color, this short doc explores what life is like living as a black man, when no one knows you are transgender, and how each man perceives his own journey with gender after many years…
The Panelists:
Moderator: Kaiya Gordon, Trans Studies Doctoral Student, Department of Feminist Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz
Jill Hill, Writer/Editor/Director/Producer, Kill Your Landlord
Lalu Ozban, Producer, The Neighbour
Wriply Bennet, Transgender, Gender Variant, and Intersex Justice Project Visual Communications Specialist
Kazani Finao, Founder of – Shine Wit Purpose & Student at CCSF major in Critical Pacific Islands & Oceania Studies
About the SF Urban Film Festival:
SF Urban Film Festival celebrates its 10th Anniversary with screenings and discussions across SF from April 15-24, 2024 that explore the theme “Rooted Resurgence.” The organizers share that “As our city and region face another cycle of difficulties that are indeed dispiriting, this year’s festival recognizes that our strength and resilience have always come from overcoming the odds. Remember, people who live here are making changes in, and fighting for communities and places where we live and work. That is why we will tell the narratives that matter to those committed to rooted resurgence. It is a renewal that blooms from our local places thick with efforts of generations - it’s our responsibility to steward that life force, reconnect with our neighbors and revive community spirit. There will be a resurgence, as cycles of bust and boom go. But this time it will be different - it must be different, with equity and justice at the center, radiating outward to include us all.” Learn more at https://sfurbanfilmfest.com/
