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This screening is only open to audiences in Oregon.
This screening features 2 films. Toggle between film descriptions by scrolling and clicking on the film title buttons on the top right.
Eight intimate portraits of trans and post-gender individuals navigating the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Created by an all trans and queer crew, this hybrid documentary film interlaces portraits with reenactments and archival material. This documentary invites viewers to witness the strength of connection as an act of resistance, offering care in the face of crisis, and using reflection as a path toward healing.
Director Biography - G. Chesler
G. Chesler (they/them) directs and produces documentary and narrative films addressing sexuality, the body, gender and racial justice. They are a white trans genderqueer disabled filmmaker living in Portland, Oregon.
This fall, G. premieres their feature "Connection | Isolation" a hybrid documentary witnessing the lives of trans people during the COVID-19 pandemic. G. is a PGA Create Fellow for their work Producing "Intersex Justice" by Aubree Bernier-Clarke, a feature documentary on intersex activist Pidgeon Pagonis currently supported by ITVS. G. also serves as Producer of "Outliers and Outlaws" by Director Courtney Hermann and Producer Judith Raiskin, a feature documentary on the migration of hundreds of lesbians to Eugene Oregon from the 1960s-1980s.
G.’s previous film projects include Producing "Out in the Night" which premiered on PBS and LOGO networks simultaneously, and opened the United Nation’ Free+Equal Campaign combating homophobia and transphobia worldwide. "Out in the Night" went on to win 15 awards internationally and is distributed by New Day Films. G.’s most recent fiction film is their short rom com "The Pick Up" about a sullen teen taking a wrong turn home from swim practice. "The Pick Up" screened far and wide, winning Best Short Film at Cineffable Paris and image+nation Montreal, Best Screenplay (Jury Prize) at Big Muddy Film Festival, and streams online through distributor Gonella Productions.
G. recently served as an Advisor to filmmakers in the inaugural ITVS / NEH Humanities Fellowship in Documentary Development. They are a recipient of a Regional Arts and Culture Council grant for "Connection | Isolation." G. is a Professor of Film and Gender Studies at George Mason University teaching remotely. www.g6pictures.com
Director Statement
May this film be a conduit for a history that many have forgotten or don’t want to remember. May it offer space for trans, genderqueer, post-gender, nonbinary, and queer viewers to consider their own experiences and connect with each other.
I began producing this film in October 2020 when I recognized that trans people were experiencing a very different pandemic.
Connection | Isolation approaches this ongoing historic period intersectionally: I’ve featured participants who share knowledge and resources in community. As a cognitively disabled person, I made a film centering disability. Further, this film’s foundation is in the experience of Black trans women and femmes – at the ‘frontline of the pandemic’ who have long organized around community and mutual aid networks. And we feature three Asian American participants, some who share their experiences confronting anti-Asian hate. Participants with Long COVID share that trans communities are disproportionately impacted (in fact, rates of Long COVID in trans adults are 2 to 3 times what they are for cis people.)
100% of my collaborators are queer and 80% of us are trans. We made this film because COVID changed us. It has changed our awareness of our identities, bodies, health, and connections.
The visual design reflects a “pandemic aesthetic” including Zoom-like framing and layers of home-grown archival from social media, Discord, personal photos and cell phone videos. Our interstitial reenactments incorporate archival elements and are common memories performed by trans folks who are not professional actors but who had the experiences they depict.
Despite the injustices trans people face, I've remained conscious of the audience's experience of watching a 'COVID film' and we've allowed space for some joy to peek through for resiliency and laughter are indeed friends.
This screening is only open to audiences in Oregon.
This screening features 2 films. Toggle between film descriptions by scrolling and clicking on the film title buttons on the top right.
Eight intimate portraits of trans and post-gender individuals navigating the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Created by an all trans and queer crew, this hybrid documentary film interlaces portraits with reenactments and archival material. This documentary invites viewers to witness the strength of connection as an act of resistance, offering care in the face of crisis, and using reflection as a path toward healing.
Director Biography - G. Chesler
G. Chesler (they/them) directs and produces documentary and narrative films addressing sexuality, the body, gender and racial justice. They are a white trans genderqueer disabled filmmaker living in Portland, Oregon.
This fall, G. premieres their feature "Connection | Isolation" a hybrid documentary witnessing the lives of trans people during the COVID-19 pandemic. G. is a PGA Create Fellow for their work Producing "Intersex Justice" by Aubree Bernier-Clarke, a feature documentary on intersex activist Pidgeon Pagonis currently supported by ITVS. G. also serves as Producer of "Outliers and Outlaws" by Director Courtney Hermann and Producer Judith Raiskin, a feature documentary on the migration of hundreds of lesbians to Eugene Oregon from the 1960s-1980s.
G.’s previous film projects include Producing "Out in the Night" which premiered on PBS and LOGO networks simultaneously, and opened the United Nation’ Free+Equal Campaign combating homophobia and transphobia worldwide. "Out in the Night" went on to win 15 awards internationally and is distributed by New Day Films. G.’s most recent fiction film is their short rom com "The Pick Up" about a sullen teen taking a wrong turn home from swim practice. "The Pick Up" screened far and wide, winning Best Short Film at Cineffable Paris and image+nation Montreal, Best Screenplay (Jury Prize) at Big Muddy Film Festival, and streams online through distributor Gonella Productions.
G. recently served as an Advisor to filmmakers in the inaugural ITVS / NEH Humanities Fellowship in Documentary Development. They are a recipient of a Regional Arts and Culture Council grant for "Connection | Isolation." G. is a Professor of Film and Gender Studies at George Mason University teaching remotely. www.g6pictures.com
Director Statement
May this film be a conduit for a history that many have forgotten or don’t want to remember. May it offer space for trans, genderqueer, post-gender, nonbinary, and queer viewers to consider their own experiences and connect with each other.
I began producing this film in October 2020 when I recognized that trans people were experiencing a very different pandemic.
Connection | Isolation approaches this ongoing historic period intersectionally: I’ve featured participants who share knowledge and resources in community. As a cognitively disabled person, I made a film centering disability. Further, this film’s foundation is in the experience of Black trans women and femmes – at the ‘frontline of the pandemic’ who have long organized around community and mutual aid networks. And we feature three Asian American participants, some who share their experiences confronting anti-Asian hate. Participants with Long COVID share that trans communities are disproportionately impacted (in fact, rates of Long COVID in trans adults are 2 to 3 times what they are for cis people.)
100% of my collaborators are queer and 80% of us are trans. We made this film because COVID changed us. It has changed our awareness of our identities, bodies, health, and connections.
The visual design reflects a “pandemic aesthetic” including Zoom-like framing and layers of home-grown archival from social media, Discord, personal photos and cell phone videos. Our interstitial reenactments incorporate archival elements and are common memories performed by trans folks who are not professional actors but who had the experiences they depict.
Despite the injustices trans people face, I've remained conscious of the audience's experience of watching a 'COVID film' and we've allowed space for some joy to peek through for resiliency and laughter are indeed friends.
