Frameline To Host Cal. Premiere Of ‘Heightened Scrutiny’ Documentary

President Trump’s first 100 days in workplace have been marked by a concerted effort to stigmatize trans folks and deny them rights. Per week after re-entering the White Home he issued an govt order banning transgendered folks from enlisting or serving within the U.S. army (final month, a federal choose blocked that order, declaring it “soaked in animus”).

In January, Trump additionally signed an govt order “directing federal companies to withhold funds from medical suppliers and establishments that present gender-affirming medical therapies for folks underneath 19,” in line with the ACLU, which is suing to overturn that directive. On his very first day again within the Oval, Trump signed an govt order that has prompted the State Division to cease issuing passports with correct intercourse designations for transgender, nonbinary, and intersex folks. The ACLU is suing to overturn that directive as properly.

For these causes and extra, the brand new documentary Heightened Scrutiny arrives at a crucial second. Right now, Frameline – the San Francisco Worldwide LGBTQ+ Movie Pageant – introduced it is going to host the California premiere of Sam Feder’s movie on the 49^th version of the pageant. The documentary, which facilities on ACLU civil rights lawyer Chase Strangio’s authorized battle towards anti-trans legal guidelines, options appearances from Oscar-nominated actor and activist Elliot Web page; drag queen, artist, and activist Miss Peppermint; journalist and editor Phillip Picardi; and Emmy winner and activist Laverne Cox (who additionally serves as govt producer). “Heightened Scrutiny additionally explores how uninformed media narratives influence the general public’s understanding of trans rights,” in line with a launch.

The premiere will happen June 20, the primary Friday of Frameline49. The pageant runs June 18-28, a spotlight of Satisfaction Month.

“I first went to Frameline within the early 2000s and was instantly impressed to be a filmmaker. With this catalyst, I made my first function in 2006, and since then my movies have been indebted to the daring, generally dangerous, selections and craft that I witnessed on the pageant,” Feder mentioned in a press release. “Our objective is to make use of Heightened Scrutiny in solidarity with, and for coalition constructing amongst, all actions of oppressed peoples. Our crew is so grateful for Frameline’s assist at a time when LGBTQ+ rights are so viciously underneath assault.”

Frameline49 introduced a novel Pay-It-Ahead initiative together with the premiere of Heightened Scrutiny. “Members of the queer neighborhood and allies will be capable to buy tickets on behalf of others, making certain that no trans or nonbinary attendees must pay to observe the movie or be in neighborhood.”

“We’re asking our viewers and allies to indicate up and take actual, tangible motion,” commented Allegra Madsen, Frameline’s govt director. “Paired with the First Friday Get together, Heightened Scrutiny actually captures the spirit of Frameline49 by centering on each queer resilience and pleasure. With sources and assist for LGBTQ+ folks drying up, queer folks have to indicate up for one another and, particularly, trans people. Once I consider utilizing the previous as a roadmap for navigating the challenges forward, it’s clear that neighborhood care, in all its kinds, is the reply.”

Final 12 months, Strangio – the center of the documentary – grew to become the primary brazenly trans particular person to argue a case earlier than the U.S. Supreme Courtroom. That case — United States v. Skrmetti – facilities on the state of Tennessee’s ban on transgender medical look after folks underneath the age of 18, together with puberty blockers and hormone remedy. Strangio, a employees lawyer for the ACLU, argued the regulation violates the Equal Safety Clause of the Fourteenth Modification. A call from the conservative-dominated courtroom might be handed down in June.

“The 14th Modification is among the Reconstruction amendments,” Strangio advised Deadline on the Sundance Movie Pageant, the place Heightened Scrutiny held its world premiere. “We now have the thirteenth, 14th and fifteenth amendments that come to the Structure after the top, the formal finish, or the supposed finish to chattel slavery. And the aim of those amendments is to bestow rights on everybody. And you’ll see more and more how there are incursions into that. The overturning of Roe v. Wade; we will see throughout the 24 hours of coming into workplace, President Trump decides that he’s going to finish birthright citizenship. That may be a bedrock within the textual content of the 14th Modification. And this, too, is a query about whether or not or not equal safety of the regulation goes to imply equal safety for everybody.”

Strangio added, “If the courtroom says that states can assault trans folks, take away our healthcare with actually no justification in any respect, then that’s going to return for everybody — the suitable to contraception, the suitable to marriage equality.”

The documentary – a recipient of Frameline’s 2025 Completion Fund Grant — will display screen on the American Conservatory Theater’s (ACT) Toni Rembe Theater on June 20. The screening might be adopted by Frameline49’s First Friday Get together at Charmaine’s (the Correct Lodge’s rooftop bar on Market Avenue).

“That is an up-to-the-minute documentary that’s unfolding in actual time,” Madsen, Frameline’s ED, added. “Whatever the final result of this case, it’s necessary that now we have area to be in neighborhood with each other — to indicate that it doesn’t matter what queer pleasure is an unstoppable drive.”

Further data on Frameline49’s screening of Sam Feder’s movie:

Heightened Scrutiny

DIR Sam Feder 2025 USA 89 min

A salient doc of our present second, Disclosure director Sam Feder’s Sundance standoutcenters on ACLU lawyer Chase Strangio, the primary out trans particular person to argue earlier than the Supreme Courtroom. Whereas Strangio fights a high-stakes authorized battle to overturn Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming look after transgender youth (United States v. Skrmetti), he and different main activists, like Laverne Cox and Elliot Web page, look at how media bias influences the general public’s notion of trans rights.

Pay-It-Ahead + Ticketing Data

An actively unfolding case, United States v. Skrmetti’s determination will seemingly be introduced throughout Frameline49. As a neighborhood, we’re bearing witness. Irrespective of the outcomes, we should be in a room collectively. Feder’s well timed documentary not solely offers a chance to assemble in the identical area, it additionally provides us a second to indicate up for one another. If you purchase a ticket to the screening of Heightened Scrutiny and/or the First Friday Get together, you may take part in our Pay-It-Ahead initiative by buying tickets for others. Our objective is that no trans or nonbinary particular person pays to see the movie and be in neighborhood. Notice: Trans or nonbinary attendees should nonetheless reserve an area to see the movie by choosing the complimentary ticket possibility and finishing the usual checkout course of.