Announcing the 2022/23 Frameline Completion Fund Recipients

Frameline has announced the recipients of the 2022/2023 Completion Fund grant: AC Unit, Asog, ¡salsa!, Chasing Chasing Amy, Do Digital Curanderas Use Eggs in Their Limpias?, Fish Boy, Like What Would Sorrow Look, and Who I Am Not. 

This year’s jury decided to split $25,000 amongst eight different projects—the most films awarded in a single year in the Completion Fund’s history. The eight projects—four features and four shorts—were chosen out of over 200 submissions that included feature films and shorts in documentary, narrative, experimental, and episodic forms. Tünde Skovrán’s Who I Am Not will be the first of this year’s selection to be released, premiering at the SXSW Film Festival in March of 2023.

The 2023 Completion Fund Jury was comprised of a trio of queer filmmakers and industry professionals: Fernando Andrés (Three Headed Beast, Frameline46), Carly Usdin (Suicide Kale, Frameline40), and Georden West (Playland, 2022 Frameline Completion Fund recipient).

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

Asog
DIR Seán Devlin | Experimental Narrative/Documentary Hybrid Feature | Canada/Philippines/USA

Jaya is a non-binary Filipino comedian who survived Super Typhoon Haiyan but lost their television career when the storm destroyed the studio where they hosted their local talk show. Asog follows Jaya on a road trip to a drag pageant, and along the way they encounter Filipinos enduring the impacts of climate change, including residents of Sicogon Island whose land was stolen in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan.

Chasing Chasing Amy
DIR Sav Rodgers | Documentary Feature | USA

Struggle Sessions (愁何状)
DIR Hao Zhou | Experimental Narrative Feature | China/USA

Wang waivers between two paths in a half-hearted search for harmony.

Who I Am Not
DIR Tünde Skovrán | Documentary Feature | Romania/Canada/Germany/South Africa/USA

A beauty queen and an activist—both born male and female within one single body—break the silence that comes with being intersex through a personal and intimate shared exploration of truth, faith, and belonging. Executive produced by Oscar winner Patricia Arquette and Marc Smolowitz (The Weather Underground), Who I Am Not will premiere at the 2023 SXSW Film Festival in March.

AC Unit
DIR Grace Godvin | Narrative Short | USA

Hilton and Drew are two best friends living in Brooklyn during the height of a heatwave. One day, when installing an AC unit, disaster turns their world on its head and the future becomes incredibly unclear.

¡salsa!
DIR Antonina Kerguelén Román | Narrative Short | Colombia

Between sounds of congas and bongos, Margarita seeks freedom and connection in a place that judges those outside the norm. Her path crosses with Liana’s, a deaf tourist, at a seaside kiosk. Their difficulty to verbally communicate is what makes way for their bodies to speak by themselves through dance, sparking a flame between them.

Do Digital Curanderas Use Eggs in Their Limpias?
DIR Roberto Fatal | Experimental Narrative Short | USA

A queer, non-binary, Latinx Indigenous curandera must convince their estranged best friend to sign off as their next of kin as they prepare to join thousands of others in their near future barrio in uploading their consciousness into a digital utopia called Digisphere.

Fish Boy
DIR Christopher Yip | Narrative Short | Canada

Fish Boy is a lyrical meditation on faith, love, and polyamory through the eyes of an Asian American teenager. When 16-year-old Patrick (played by Ian Chen, Fresh Off the Boat) questions his love for God, his self-discovery manifests in his skin. 

Like What Would Sorrow Look (愁何状)
DIR Hao Zhou | Experimental Narrative Short | Canada/Germany/Japan