Graham Kolbeins is a Canadian filmmaker, writer, and fashion designer.

Background

Kolbeins' documentary films have focused on themes of LGBTQ art and activism, including the web series ''Rad Queers'' and the documentary short film ''The House of Gay Art''. As co-founder and creative director of the brand

Massive Goods Massive Goods (or simply Massive) is a fashion brand and manga publisher. The company works with LGBTQ and feminist comic artists in Japan, particularly gay manga (''bara'') artists, to create products featuring their artwork, and English-l ...

Kolbeins and collaborator

Anne Ishii Anne Ishii is a writer, editor, translator, and producer based in New York City. Anne is the host of WHYY's ''Movers & Makers,'' and the curator of Philadelphia’s Asian Arts Initiative, the arts non-profit. Producer Ishii is a producer of ...

worked with Japanese artists including gay manga artist

Gengoroh Tagame is a pseudonymous Japanese manga artist. Regarded as the most influential creator in the gay manga genre, he has produced over 20 books in four languages over the course of his nearly four decade-long career. Tagame began contributing manga ...

and feminist artist

Rokudenashiko , who uses the pseudonym , is a Japanese sculptor and manga artist who creates works that feature female genitalia and are often modeled after her own vulva. Rokudenashiko considers it her mission to reclaim female genitalia as part of women's b ...

to produce English translations of their work as well as fashion collections for brands including

Opening Ceremony An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly-constructed location or the start of an event.

and Mishka.

Works

Films

The Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission named Kolbeins a recipient of their Creative Artists Exchange Fellowship in 2016, and he subsequently spent five months filming a feature documentary about sexuality and gender identity in Japan titled ''

Queer Japan is a 2019 documentary film directed, edited, and co-written by Graham Kolbeins. The documentary profiles a range of individuals in Japan who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ). ''Queer Japan'' is produced by H ...

.'' Currently in post-production, the film features a variety of artists, activists, dancers, drag queens, and everyday persons. The cast includes

, drag queen and artist Vivienne Sato, transgender politician Aya Kamikawa, and photographer

Leslie Kee Leslie Kee (born 5 April 1971) is a Singaporean photographer based in Japan. Early life Leslie Kee was born on 5 April 1971, in Singapore. His biological parents were never legally married; both parents are Singaporeans his father is a police m ...

. Kolbeins' short-form work includes ''Rad Queers'', a series of documentary profiles on artists and activists; as well as collaborations with artist

Rafa Esparza rafael esparza (born in 1981) is an American performance artist who lives and works in Los Angeles. His work includes performances affecting his physical well-being and installations constructed from adobe bricks. Esparza often works with collab ...

, musician

Dorian Wood Dorian Wood (born 1975) is an American singer, composer, performance artist, visual artist and writer. Early history Wood was born in Los Angeles, California to Costa Rican parents. They began their musical education at a very early age, under ...

, writer Beau Rice, and the magazine ''New American Paintings''. He also created a found footage experimental short ''Food Horror'' which explored stigma towards eating embedded with the teen television drama ''

Pretty Little Liars ''Pretty Little Liars'' is an American mystery teen drama television series based on the novel series of the same name written by Sara Shepard. Developed by I. Marlene King, the series was broadcast on Freeform between June 8, 2010, and June ...

''.

Books

Along with Chip Kidd and Anne Ishii, Kolbeins is the co-editor of two books on Japanese gay art: ''The Passion of Gengoroh Tagame'' and Fantagraphics' anthology, '' Massive: Gay Erotic Manga and the Men Who Make It'', which was nominated for an

Eisner award The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books, sometimes referred to as the comics industry's equivalent of the Academy Awards. They are named in ...

in 2015. The team also collaborated on Koyama Press' English-language edition of ''What Is Obscenity?'', a graphic memoir by the artist

chronicling her arrest on obscenity charges for making 3D printed vagina art, which was nominated for a

Los Angeles Times Book Award Since 1980, the ''Los Angeles Times'' has awarded a set of annual book prizes. The Prizes currently have nine categories: biography, current interest, fiction, first fiction (the Art Seidenbaum Award added in 1991), history, mystery/thriller ( ...

References

External links

grahamkolbeins.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kolbeins, Graham 1987 births Living people Film directors from Vancouver LGBT film directors Writers from Vancouver