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
Romería
An orphan from a young age, 18-year-old Marina intends to pursue a university scholarship. The application, however, requires the signatures of her paternal grandparents, compelling her to embark on a pilgrimage and seek out the family she has never met.
The Crying Game
Notwithstanding its famous twist, Neil Jordan's moody thriller works differently on a second viewing, and hits different in 2026, with its rich and "problematic" stew of identity politics, love, violence and desire.
One False Move
Billy Bob Thornton and his partners in crime (Michael Beach, and Cynda Williams) hightail it out of Los Angeles with a trunk-ful of dope, but drive into a world of trouble. This unjustly forgotten thriller will keep you on your toes.
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)