Announcing the 2023/2024 Frameline Completion Fund Recipients

Frameline has announced the recipients of the 2023/2024 Completion Fund grant: The Age of Flowering Plants, Bust, Euphoric, Grace, In the Summers, OUTCRY: Alchemists of Rage, Sally!, and Second Nature.

This year, we were inspired by a story Jenni Olson shared with us about the Frameline Completion Fund’s genesis:

“One of the watershed moments that prompted a meaningful new awareness and corresponding power shift in the larger LGBT film festival landscape was the “lesbian riot” that shook the San Francisco International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival in 1986.”

As legend would have it, a shorts program at Frameline10 incited a “lesbian riot,” with the women in attendance storming the projection booth at the Roxie. Expressing dissatisfaction with both the quantity and quality of content for queer women, this incident pushed the organization to do some soul-searching, with the board of directors eventually creating the Frameline Completion Fund with the intention of providing finishing funds to films by and about women and people of color.

For other great tales like this, be sure to check out Olson’s The Ultimate Guide to Lesbian and Gay Film and Video.The Frameline Completion Fund was eventually established in 1990. As a testament to that amazing legacy, all eight films for this year’s grant — three features and five shorts — were made by women, trans, and gender non-confirming directors. We have now awarded nearly $700,000 to 190 queer projects over the past 35 years.

This year’s jury decided to split $25,000 amongst the eight projects — which were chosen out of nearly 400 submissions (by far, the largest number of applications the Completion Fund has received). Three of the films made their world premiere at this year’s Sundance Film Festival: Alessandra Lacorazza’s In the Summers, Angalis Field’s Bust, and Natalie Jasmine Harris’ Grace. In the Summers took home two of the festival’s top prizes: the Grand Jury Prize and Directing Award in the U.S. Dramatic competition. Keep an eye out for several of these films at Frameline48 as they start and continue their film festival journeys.

The 2024 Completion Fund Jury was comprised of a trio of queer filmmakers and industry professionals: Lex Sloan (Executive Director at the Roxie Theater), Sav Rodgers (Chasing Chasing Amy, Frameline47), and Stephen Winter (Chocolate Babies, Frameline21). 

Follow us on Instagram to learn more about this year’s recipients in the coming weeks.

In the Summers
DIR Alessandra Lacorazza | Narrative Feature | USA

On a journey that spans the formative years of their lives, two sisters navigate their loving but volatile father during their yearly summer visits to his home in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Starring Lío Mehiel (Mutt), Sasha Calle (The Flash), and René Pérez Joglar (better known as Puerto Rican rapper Residente), In the Summers won the Grand Jury Prize and Directing Award in the U.S. Dramatic competition at Sundance.

Sally!
DIR Deborah Craig | Documentary Feature | USA

Sally Gearhart was a lesbian-feminist firebrand, professor, and fantasy author who spearheaded the 1970s and 80s lesbian feminist movement. Sally! peels back proverbial (and patriarchal) layers to expose the collectivist reality behind our largely forgotten heroine’s story while exploring the complex relationship between spokeswomen like Sally and movements for social change. Deborah Craig’s medium-length doc A Great Ride — also featuring Sally — premiered at Frameline42 and was released by Frameline Distribution.

Second Nature
DIR Drew Denny | Documentary Feature | USA/Netherlands

Did you know that clownfish change sex from male to female? (So if Nemo’s mom had died in real life, his dad would have become his mom.) Did you know that albatross, penguins and swans parent in same sex pairs? Or that bonobos, who are just as closely related to us as chimps, are matriarchal and have same-sex sex every day? Debunking myths that females are “inferior” and being queer is somehow “unnatural,” Second Nature explores the 1500+ animal species who engage in same sex sexual behavior and parenting, change sex, form matriarchies, and more… Second Nature — everything you didn’t learn in high school biology. Drew Denny’s short Queer Habits screened at Frameline39.

The Age of Flowering Plants (La era de las plantas con flor)
DIR Magaly Ugarte de Pablo | Experimental Narrative Short | Mexico

In a poetic tribute to metamorphosis, a young woman undergoes a sexual awakening ignited by a mysterious person, instigating a transformative journey that leads her into a profound mystic change.

Bust
DIR Angalis Field | Narrative Short | USA

A trans girl cop with the NYPD goes undercover to make a drug bust. Starring Lux Pascal and Cole Doman (Mutt, Starfuckers), Bust had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival.

Euphoric
DIR Cam Killion | Narrative Short | USA

Sam brings Olivia back to their place during the heated extension of a first date gone *very* well. After a few stumbling blocks getting into the rhythm, the two find their way back after confronting something that could make or break a burgeoning queer romance… comfort in your own body.

Grace
DIR Natalie Jasmine Harris | Narrative Short | USA

Sixteen-year-old Grace prepares for her baptism in the rural 1950s South. When she learns she must repent before the ritual, Grace contemplates her romantic feelings toward her best friend Louise. Grace had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival; Natalie Jasmine Harris’ short film Pure screened at Frameline45.

OUTCRY: Alchemists of Rage
DIR Clare Major | Documentary Short | USA

OUTCRY: Alchemists of Rage follows artist and activist Whitney Bradshaw as she photographs womxn mid-scream during transformational gatherings where participants reclaim the power of their voices. Facing an onslaught of hostile legislation, Whitney works to spread OUTCRY‘s radical empathy and community-building nationwide. OUTCRY is directed by Oakland-based cinematographer Clare Major and produced by Jen Rainin and Rivkah Beth Medow, the team behind Holding Moses (Best Documentary Short winner at Frameline46) and Ahead of the Curve (Frameline44).