Jump to Content

Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
San Francisco Transgender Film Festival collection
2006-26  
View entire collection guide What's This?
Search this collection
Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Descriptive Summary
  • Access
  • Publication Rights
  • Preferred Citation
  • Acquisition Information
  • Biography/Administrative History
  • Scope and Content of Collection
  • Indexing Terms
  • Additional collection guides

  • Descriptive Summary

    Title: San Francisco Transgender Film Festival collection
    Dates: 1997-2003
    Collection Number: 2006-26
    Creator/Collector:
    Extent: 7.1 linear feet
    Repository: GLBT Historical Society
    San Francisco, California 94103
    Abstract: 7.1 linear feet (7 cartons, 1 oversize folder)
    Language of Material: English

    Access

    Collection is open for research.

    Publication Rights

    Copyright to material created by festival participants has not been transferred to the GLBT Historical Society. All requests for reproductions and/or permission to publish or quote from material must be submitted in writing to the GLBT Historical Society Archivist. Permission for reproductions and/or permission to publish or quote from material is given on behalf of the GLBT Historical Society as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.

    Preferred Citation

    [Identification of item]. San Francisco Transgender Film Festival collection. Collection Number: 2006-26. GLBT Historical Society

    Acquisition Information

    The collection was donated to the GLBT Historical Society in 2006 by Christopher Lee, Al Austin and Elise Hurwitz.

    Biography/Administrative History

    Founded in 1997, the San Francisco Transgender Film Festival (SFTFF) was North America’s first transgender film festival. At its foundation, the festival was known as “Tranny Fest.” In the late 1990s, “tranny” was a piece of friendly slang trans people used to refer to each other; it has since become a slur used against trans people. Many materials and folders in the collection use the former name, which is included in this finding aid for reasons of accuracy, as this was the festival’s name for the entire period this collection covers. SFTFF was founded by trans people who felt the lack of authentic representations of their lives and experiences in the mainstream media. Originally a biennial event, SFTFF screened films and videos by transgender and gender-variant media artists whose work challenged stereotypes. They primarily served filmmakers with extremely limited access to venues. After five biannual festivals, audience demand led the organizers to begin staging the Festival as an annual event in 1997. SFTFF celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2022.

    Scope and Content of Collection

    The San Francisco Transgender Film Festival (SFTFF) Collection documents the film festival from 1997-2003. The bulk of the collection consists of the festival’s media library, which includes films submitted to the festival, trailers for the festival and recordings of festival events and performances. These materials have not been sorted. The collection also includes administrative records; programming materials; email correspondence; festival publicity, including programs, press releases and press kits; ephemera; posters; photographs; and news clippings and articles about the festival.

    Indexing Terms

    Transgender people
    Motion pictures

    Additional collection guides