''Ahead of the Curve'' is a 2020 American
biographical
A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or ...
documentary film
A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...
co-produced and co-directed by
Jen Rainin and Rivkah Beth Medow, with music composed by
Meshell Ndegeocello
Michelle Lynn Johnson, better known as Meshell Ndegeocello (; born August 29, 1968), is a German-born American singer-songwriter, rapper, and bassist. She has gone by the name Meshell Suhaila Bashir-Shakur which is used as a writing credit on so ...
. The film is based on the true story of
Franco Stevens, one of the most influential women in lesbian history, and the founding publisher of ''
Curve Magazine'', a leading international lesbian lifestyle magazine. Portraying themselves in the film are,
Franco Stevens,
Kim Katrin,
Denice Frohman
Denice Frohman is a poet, writer, performer and educator, whose work explores the intersections of race, gender, and sexuality. Frohman uses her experience as a queer woman from a multi-cultural ( Puerto Rican and Jewish) background in her w ...
,
Amber Hikes Amber Jelena Hikes (they/them, she/her) is an American civil rights activist and community organizer, who currently serves as the chief equity and inclusion officer for the American Civil Liberties Union. Prior to their work for ACLU, Hikes was mos ...
,
Andrea Pino-Silva,
Melissa Etheridge
Melissa Lou Etheridge (born May 29, 1961) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and guitarist. Her eponymous debut album was released in 1988 and became an underground success. It peaked at No. 22 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and its lead ...
and
Jewelle Gomez
Jewelle Gomez (born September 11, 1948) is an American author, poet, critic and playwright. She lived in New York City for 22 years, working in public television, theater, as well as philanthropy, before relocating to the West Coast. Her writing†...
. The documentary premiered in June 2020 at the
San Francisco International LGBTQ+ Film Festival.
Synopsis
The film tells the story about the founder of ''Curve Magazine'', and its rise in the 1990s and its uncertain future today. When Franco was 23 years old, she funded the magazine with a bunch of credit cards. She took the borrowed money from the cards to the race track, where her bets resulted in her continual winning, and that's how ''Curve'' was born. During her tenure at the magazine, she helped build a foundation for many movements being led by today's activists in the face of threats to the LGBT community. Now, decades later, her legacy faces extinction and she reassesses her life after a disabling injury, and sets out to communicate and understand the work in LGBT visibility being led by the queer women of today.
Cast
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Franco Stevens as self
*
Kim Katrin as self
*
Denice Frohman
Denice Frohman is a poet, writer, performer and educator, whose work explores the intersections of race, gender, and sexuality. Frohman uses her experience as a queer woman from a multi-cultural ( Puerto Rican and Jewish) background in her w ...
as self
*
Amber Hikes Amber Jelena Hikes (they/them, she/her) is an American civil rights activist and community organizer, who currently serves as the chief equity and inclusion officer for the American Civil Liberties Union. Prior to their work for ACLU, Hikes was mos ...
as self
*
Andrea Pino-Silva as self
*
Melissa Etheridge
Melissa Lou Etheridge (born May 29, 1961) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and guitarist. Her eponymous debut album was released in 1988 and became an underground success. It peaked at No. 22 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and its lead ...
as self
*
Jewelle Gomez
Jewelle Gomez (born September 11, 1948) is an American author, poet, critic and playwright. She lived in New York City for 22 years, working in public television, theater, as well as philanthropy, before relocating to the West Coast. Her writing†...
as self
*
Lea DeLaria
Lea DeLaria (born May 23, 1958) is an American comedian, actress, and jazz singer. DeLaria is credited with being the first openly gay comic to appear on American television with her 1993 appearance on ''The Arsenio Hall Show''. She is best kno ...
as self
*
Kate Kendell
Kate Kendell (born Kathryn Dean Kendell, April 15, 1960) is the former Executive Director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), a national legal organization that fights for the civil and human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and ...
as self
Production notes
Jen Rainin said she originally thought of the film as a drama, but changed her mind after doing the research. Rainin revealed that she was having a hard time finding stories about the women "who really got our movement to this place where we are now", but she still hopes to make the narrative version one day. She also stated there is "a responsibility to tell the story. We just don’t know where we came from, where our legacy is, what our lineage is."
Critical reception
The consensus among the many reviews is positive. ''
The Austin Chronicle
''The Austin Chronicle'' is an alternative weekly newspaper published every Thursday in Austin, Texas, United States. The paper is distributed through free news-stands, often at local eateries or coffee houses frequented by its targeted demogr ...
'' said the film "functions as a historical document...there are contemporary interviews with 'celesbians' both of today and yore, of course, but the doc strikes gold in its incorporation of Stevens' personal archives of queer life in the Nineties".
''The Spool'' stated the documentary "is destined to become one of those documentaries queer people can turn to in order to remember where we’ve been and how we’ve arrived here together". Andrew Parker wrote in his review for ''
The Gate'' that, "the documentary is...balanced, historically significant, and
ssurprisingly entertaining...Jen Rainin and co-director Rivkah Beth Medow deftly illustrate and underline the importance of visibility and representation".
Sarah Boslaugh of
NewFest NewFest: The New York Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender Film Festival put on by The New Festival, Inc., is one of the most comprehensive forums of national and international LGBT film/video in the world.
Founded in 1988, The New Festival, Inc ...
said Rainin's cheerful documentary...accomplishes several things at once...it's a history of the groundbreaking lesbian magazine ''Curve''...it's a profile of the magazine's founder...whose nerve, positive attitude, and sense of self are enough to lift anyone's day...and it's a cultural history of lesbians and other gender nonconforming women in the United States from the 1980s to the present".
FilmInk praised the film saying it is "told with humor, intelligence and an abundance of personality". ''
The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...
'' said the film "is by no means flashy, but it’s a handsome production that zips along...and maintains an earned sense of celebration and cheer". The film has approval rating at
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, based on reviews.
Accolades
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aGLIFF, All Genders, Lifestyles, and Identities Film Festival - Audience award for Best Documentary (2020)
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Image+Nation, LGBTQueer Montreal - Grand Prix du Jury (2020)
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Reeling: The Chicago LGBTQ+ International Film Festival - Audience award for Best Documentary (2020)
*
Tampa International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival The Tampa International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival is a movie screening event that takes place each October in Tampa, Florida. The primary venue is the Tampa Theatre, but several other cinemas in or near the downtown area and in St. Petersburg si ...
- Audience award for Best Documentary (2020)
*
Connecticut LGBTQ Film Festival
The Connecticut LGBTQ Film Festival, hosted by Out Film CT and held annually in Hartford, Connecticut, is an American film festival with a focus on films created by and for members of the LGBTQ+ community. Established in 1988, it is the longest r ...
- Audience award for Best Documentary (2020)
*
Outfest
Outfest is an LGBTQ-oriented nonprofit that produces two film festivals, operates a movie streaming platform, and runs educational services for filmmakers in Los Angeles. Outfest is one of the key partners, alongside the Frameline Film Festival ...
- Official selection (2020)
*
NewFest: The New York Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender Film Festival - Official selection (2020)
*
San Francisco International LGBTQ+ Film Festival - World premiere (2020)
See also
*
List of female film and television directors
This is a list of female film and television directors. Their works may include live action and/or animated features, shorts, documentaries, telemovies, TV programs, or videos.
A
* Jennifer Abbott (Canada)
* Sarah Abbott (Canada
* Jenni ...
*
List of lesbian filmmakers
This is a list of lesbian filmmakers. The names listed include directors, producers, and screenwriters of feature films, television movies, documentaries and short films; and have received coverage or been recognized in reliable, authoritative me ...
*
List of LGBT-related films directed by women
This is a list of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender-related films that were directed by women. LGBT-themed films directed by women – especially, but not exclusively, lesbian-themed movies – are an important and distinct subset of the gen ...
References
External links
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* {{Rotten Tomatoes, ahead_of_the_curve
*
Ahead of the Curve' at Official website
2020 films
2020 documentary films
2020 LGBT-related films
American documentary films
American LGBT-related films
Documentary films about LGBT culture
Biographical films about LGBT people
2020s English-language films
Lesbian-related films
LGBT-related films based on actual events
2020s American films