Exhuming transcripts from a 1950s UCLA study on transgender individuals, Chase Joynt and his cast employ re-enactments, reinvention, and personal reflections to examine the trans stories that are told and how—and by whom—they are authored.
Every bit as conceptually daring as VIFF 2020’s No Ordinary Man (which Joynt co-directed), Framing Agnes sees the director assume the role of vintage talk show host and administers clinical interrogations of the titular Agnes (Zackary Drucker) and dozens of other individuals (played by influential figures like Angelica Ross and Jen Richards) who transitioned in the mid-20th century. Further blurring fact and fiction, Joynt and his collaborators counterpoint their lived experiences with those of the women they’re portraying, while academic Jules Gill-Peterson offers historical context.
The result is an all-too-rare film that is in constant dialogue with itself. Both a historical excavation and bold deconstruction, Framing Agnes exists in a liminal space. And in sparking essential discourse about these trailblazers, it aspires to lay the groundwork for further social change.
Audience Award & NEXT Innovator Award, Sundance 2022
Q&A Oct 1 & Oct 3
Media Partner
Media Partner
Community Partner
Jules Gill-Peterson, Chase Joynt, Angelica Ross, Jen Richards, Max Wolf Valerio, Silas Howard, Stephen Ira, Zackary Drucker
Canada/USA
2022
English
Gender or Sexual Discrimination
At SFU Woodward’s
At The Rio
Book Tickets
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Out of Sight
Adapted from Elmore Leonard's novel about the mutual attraction between an escaped bank robber and the FBI agent on his tail, Out of Sight is sexy and romantic, cosmopolitan, and full of Soderbergh's sleight of hand, shuffling time like a card sharp.
Memory of Princess Mumbi
In 2093, a filmmaker arrives in the African village of Umata, where he meets Princess Mumbi, a woman torn between love, legacy, and the future of storytelling. It's a fabulous genre-blending fable about memory, invention and cinematic resistance.
Late Fame
Based on a novella by Arthur Schnitzler (Eyes Wide Shut) this is a sly, poignant comedy about vanity and art from director Kent Jones, starring Willem Dafoe as a mailman belatedly acclaimed for a book of poetry he wrote in his youth.
Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World
Sasha Waters' documentary takes us through the life of America's best-selling late twentieth century poet, a private woman who shared her innermost thoughts and made them indispensable.
Rosetta
A teenager tries to change her dire circumstances in this overwhelming naturalistic drama from the Dardenne brothers, winner of the Palme d'Or and Best Actress awards at Cannes, 1999.
Searching for Satyrus
Award-winning filmmaker and photographer Rena Effendi embarks on a quest to track down the very rare Satyrus Effendi, a butterfly discovered by her father in the mountains of Aberbaijain. But what she finds is altogether more personal, and more upsetting.
Credits
Producer
Samantha Curley, Shant Joshi, Chase Joynt
Screenwriter
Chase Joynt, Morgan M Page
Cinematography
Aubree Bernier-Clarke
Editor
Brooke Stern Sebold, Cecilio Escobar
Production Design
Becca Blackwood
Original Music
Casey Mecija
Director
Chase Joynt
Director and writer Chase Joynt’s feature-length documentary No Ordinary Man (2020, co-directed with Aisling Chin-Yee) about jazz musician Billy Tipton won nine awards on the international festival circuit, including being named to TIFF Canada’s Top Ten. Joynt’s first book, You Only Live Twice (co-authored with Mike Hoolboom), was a 2017 Lambda Literary Award Finalist. Joynt also directed episodes of Two Sentence Horror Stories for The CW, which are now streaming on Netflix. With Samantha Curley, Chase runs Level Ground Productions, a production company in Los Angeles.
Filmography: No Ordinary Man (2020)