The San Francisco Transgender Film Festival (SFTFF) is the world's oldest

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...

film festival. Originally named ''Tranny Fest'', the Festival was co-founded by

Christopher Lee Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee (27 May 1922 – 7 June 2015) was an English actor and singer. In a long career spanning more than 60 years, Lee often portrayed villains, and appeared as Count Dracula in seven Hammer Horror films, ultimat ...

and Alex Austin in 1997, with Elise Hurwitz as technical director. Lee and Austin produced the Festival until 2002; in 2003, Shawna Virago took over as Artistic Director. Originally, the festival was organized largely by volunteers and operated without any government or private funding. Artistic Director Shawna Virago explained that neither government nor foundations would support transgender arts, stating "There was absolutely no funding available for transgender arts events" and that SFTFF "had to survive and thrive on our transgender smarts, sweat, and love from the community." The festival was held biennially from its founding in 1997 until 2005, when audience demand led Virago and the advisory board to transform the festival into an annual event. Before 2016, the festival's screenings and programs were held in venues including The

Roxie Theater The Roxie Theater, also known as the Roxie Cinema or just The Roxie, is a historic movie theater, founded in 1912, at 3117 16th Street in the Mission District of San Francisco. It is a non-profit community arthouse cinema. History The Roxie is o ...

, The Bearded Lady Cafe,

The Lexington Club The Lexington Club, often referred to as The Lex, was a dive bar, primarily catered towards queer women, in the Mission District in the American city of San Francisco, California. It was recognized as one of the central landmarks for LGBTQ cultu ...

, Mama Calizo's Voice Factory, the

San Francisco LGBT Community Center The San Francisco LGBT Community Center, also known as the SF LGBT Center, is a nonprofit organization serving the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer community of San Francisco, California, and nearby communities, located at 1800 Marke ...

, and CounterPulse. SFTFF returned to its original home — the Roxie Theater — for its 2013 festival, and has remained at the Roxie Theater ever since. On November 10, 2016, SFTFF celebrated its 15th Anniversary Festival at the Roxie Theater with two feature-length films and 38 short films scheduled. The 2016 festival included a subtitled program for deaf and hard-of-hearing patrons for the first time, as well as

ASL American Sign Language (ASL) is a natural language that serves as the predominant sign language of Deaf communities in the United States of America and most of Anglophone Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual language that is express ...

interpretation. The 2016 opening night feature film was ''FREE CeCe!'', a documentary about trans woman CeCe McDonald, who was sent to a men's prison after defending herself from an attack. Directed by Jac Gares, the film also features trans actress Laverne Cox, who served as the

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...

. Among the short films playing in the 2016 Festival was the documentary ''Mezzo'', featuring trans opera singer

Breanna Sinclairé Breanna Sinclairé (born c. 1991) is an American singer based in California. In June 2015, she became the first transgender woman to sing the American national anthem at a professional sports event. Biography Sinclairé was brought up in Baltimo ...

. The 2018 San Francisco Transgender Film Festival ran November 9–11, 2018 at the Roxie Theater, San Francisco.

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* Film festivals in California LGBT film festivals in the United States LGBT culture in San Francisco Transgender events Cinema of the San Francisco Bay Area Film festivals established in 1997 1997 establishments in California {{US-film-festival-stub

See also

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