Chasing Chasing Amy: Frameline 2022/23 Completion Fund Spotlight

Chasing Chasing Amy
Directed by Sav Rodgers · USA · 85 mins

Chasing Chasing Amy examines the transformational impact of a 90s rom-com on a 12-year-old kid from Kansas, questioning their place in the world. For young Sav Rodgers, the Kevin Smith cult classic, Chasing Amy, became a marker of queer identity. A deeper dive into the film as a cornerstone of LGBTQ+ cinema, finds the director at many unexpected crossroads. Featuring interviews with Joey Lauren Adams, Kevin Smith, Guinevere Turner, Bob Hawk, Andrew Ahn, and Princess Weekes among many others.

It’s not an exaggeration to say that the story of Chasing Chasing Amy has been 28 years in the making. Despite this movie being rooted in my own personal relationship to the ‘90s Kevin Smith film, this documentary is ultimately a tribute to the stories that shape and connect us, even if they demand we contend with difficult truths about ourselves and the world around us. From queer critics and filmmakers to film festivals and programmers, intended audiences and unexpected ones, everyone who’s encountered and engaged with the film is a part of this journey. I’ve become better because of everyone I’ve ever met and learned from. And Chasing Chasing Amy has been the greatest learning opportunity of my life so far.

Originally from Kansas, Sav Rodgers is a filmmaker and screenwriter whose work often centers on telling highly specific, surprising stories about queer people. He is the director of Chasing Chasing Amy, an upcoming feature documentary about the complicated legacy of Kevin Smith’s Chasing Amy (1997) and the profound impression it left on his own life. In 2019, Sav delivered a TED Talk on the subject called, “The Rom-com That Saved My Life,” which led to the documentary’s conception. A graduate of the University of Kansas, an alumnus of the Outfest Screenwriting Lab, the Producers Guild of America’s PGA Create program, the TED Residency, and the Telluride Film Festival Student Symposium, he is an accomplished filmmaker with his short films screening at premiere festivals across the country. His screenplay I Love You, Margot Robbie, co-written with Taylor Gates, was selected for The GLAAD List in 2022 and is currently in development. Sav is also the Founder and Executive Director of the Transgender Film Center, the first of its kind nonprofit aiming to help trans creators bring finished films to audiences around the world.