SFTFF: Program 3

Belonging: An Indian Trans Immigrant Story

Director: Amir Jaffer

Runtime: 40 minutes

Anjali Rimi shares her gender journey as a trans, immigrant woman, and the challenges she faces in leading United State’s first and only Transgender-led South Asian Organization called Parivar (Family).

While creating Transgender centering spaces with a focus on Global South Immigrants in San Francisco Bay Area, Anjali’s fight for acceptance and equal opportunity is not confined to the United States. She helped countless trans, hijra and kinnar folks in India during and after the pandemic.

Filmed across 24 cities and communities in India, we get a glimpse of the struggles of the culturally diverse trans, hijra, and kinnar identities.

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Since 2005, Amir Jaffer has been working as a Director and Producer in San Francisco Bay Area. He has a wide range of experience in filmmaking, and across genres of storytelling. He has produced documentaries, features, short films, music videos, branding videos, web series, and a few series that are currently streaming on Amazon U.S. His last documentary about Flamenco, Open Circle, was filmed in a small town in southern Spain, and is also streaming on Amazon.

Besides working on his own projects, Amir has collaborated with several Bay-area Directors and Producers as Director of Photography and Editor. Some of his work was broadcast on PBS and MTV, and some of his films have screened at film festivals in the U.S. and abroad.

Amir possesses a deep passion for filmmaking, and believes in telling stories that are meaningful, and thought provoking. In his words, “I became a filmmaker because I wanted to tell stories and capture people’s unique experiences. And, because I want to inspire through ideas and visuals that can have a lasting impact on people and their lives.”

The Script

Director: Brit Fryer, Noah Schamus

Runtime: 15 minutes

Blending personal interviews with dramatized genre recreations, THE SCRIPT explores the complicated relationship between trans and nonbinary communities and medical providers regarding gender-affirming care. With a playful approach toward experimentation, the film examines the limits of language — and invites its participants and its audience to envision a liberated, gender-expansive future, beyond the rigidity of our current moment. https://www.queer-futures.com/thescript

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BRIT FRYER (director, he/him) is an award-winning queer and trans filmmaker based in Brooklyn. His film, CARO COMES OUT, premiered on HBOMax after winning the 2021 Knight Made in MIA Award at the Miami International Film Festival.His other films include ACROSS, BEYOND, AND OVER, I-57, and TRANS·IENCE. He also works as a producer, most recently of Lydia Cornett’s BUG FARM and Crystal Kayiza’s REST STOP, which was an official selection of the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival and the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. He is grateful to have shown at Indie Grits, NewFest, Outfest, Inside Out, MIX NYC, Blackstar Film Festival, and more. Brit and his work have been supported by the Sundance Ignite Fellowship, Creative Culture, Chicken and Egg, GLAAD’s Equity in Media and Entertainment Initiative, and HBO / Gotham’s Documentary Development Initiative.

NOAH SCHAMUS (director, they/them) is a Brooklyn-based filmmaker of documentary and narrative films. Their short films have been presented at film festivals including BFI Flare, Outfest, Inside Out, NewFest, Indie Memphis, Maryland Film Festival, Provincetown Film Festival, and New Orleans Film Festival (where their short film, “Chemistry of Mood” garnered an Honorable Mention for Best Performance by Naian Gonzalez Norvind). “Across, Beyond, and Over,” co-directed with Brit Fryer, was featured on NoBudge and is a Vimeo Staff Pick. They are currently in post-production on their first narrative feature film, “Summer Solstice” which was the recipient of the Panavision New Filmmaker Program grant, was included in the 2021 Outfest Screenwriting Lab as a Notable Writer, and was selected to take part in Us in Progress at the American Film Festival in November 2022. They hold an MFA from Columbia University in Screenwriting and Directing.

Presented as part of San Francisco Transgender Film Festival.

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