In 1999, a groundbreaking documentary on gender fluidity hit the screen; Monika Treut’s Gendernauts (Frameline23) illuminated the shifting nature of gender through the eyes and lives of several unapologetic, iconic San Franciscans. Twenty years later, Treut returned to the city to document where time and life have led the pioneering gendernauts.

Annie Sprinkle, Sandy Stone, Susan Stryker, Stafford, and Max Wolf Valerio all return to the screen in Genderation, still breaking the mold as gender visionaries, but now grappling with a changing city and the challenges of aging in America. Themes of gender identity and trans resilience resonate differently during a Trump presidency, increasing gentrification, and global warming. Some gendernauts have left San Francisco for new horizons and new homes, while others remain, holding on with both hands to the gender-fabulous spaces they continue to create.

For fans of the queer classic Gendernauts, Genderation will feel like a surprise catch-up-over-coffee with old friends; for those just meeting these pathbreakers, it is a rare window into San Francisco queer legacy and a generation of gender rebels.