New York: Anthology Film Archives – The Cinema of Gender Transgression – Frame Your Future

FRAME YOUR FUTURE: SHORT FILMS FROM THE SWEDISH ARCHIVE FOR QUEER MOVING IMAGES (SAQMI)

An extensive, ongoing series exploring the ways in which cinema has intersected with the experiences, struggles, and ideas of transgender, non-binary, and gender-nonconforming lives and communities, “The Cinema of Gender Transgression” showcases contemporary films and videos that explore concepts related to gender transgression as well as films that have had historical resonance within and beyond these communities.

Imagining a world without gender, SPACE IS QUITE A LOT OF THINGS takes us on a journey accompanied by jellyfish and disco uncles that explores and expands the trans imaginary. Juli Apponen (CAR WASH) and Max Göran (FILMING DAD’S ASS WHILE HE’S CHOPPING LOGS WITH HIS CHAINSAW) use the power of the frame to reclaim their own pleasure and power, whether from an invisible gaze or from a dad arguing right-wing politics right there in front of you in rural Sweden; and Lasse Långström’s CRY ALLIANCE OF OUR HATRED almost seems to continue the conversation, with the collective rage of Gothenburg’s campy, anarchist queers singing what we can’t always say in words. Reflecting on the life and death of trans ancestors, Zafira Vrba Woodski cries tears made of their own Estrogen gel and Testosterone gel they were gifted after a friend’s death (I’M CONTINUOUSLY CRYING TEARS OF ESTROGEN AND TEARS OF TESTOSTERONE), and Anna Linder’s SPERMWHORE uses hand-processed experimental Super-8mm filmmaking and their own queer extended family to represent radical new visions of creating life.

Films:
Space is Quite a Lot of Things by August Joensalo
(2021, 11 min)
Car Wash by Juli Apponen (2018, 5 min)
Filming dad’s ass while he’s chopping logs with his chainsaw by Max Göran (2018, 23 min)
Cry alliance of our hatred by Lasse Långström and Verklighetens Folk (2010, 6 min)
I’m continuously crying tears of estrogen and tears of testosterone by Zafira Vrba Woodski (2020, 6 min)
Spermwhore by Anna Linder (2016, 12 min)

Total running time: ca 70 min.
Curator: Joey Carducci. After the screening there will be a Q&A.

Anna Linders presence is supported by Swedish Art Grants Committee.

About the serie: 

The Cinema of Gender Transgression
July 10-13, 2026

An extensive, ongoing series exploring the ways in which cinema has intersected with the experiences, struggles, and ideas of transgender, non-binary, and gender-nonconforming lives and communities, “The Cinema of Gender Transgression” showcases contemporary films and videos that explore concepts related to gender transgression as well as films that have had historical resonance within and beyond these communities.

Transgender and gender-nonconforming issues hold a more prominent place in the national conversation today than ever before, though gender transgression and the experiences of these individuals have always existed. This series aims to call attention to those films that dared to question gender norms in periods when even to broach the topic was controversial, and to provide a platform for the contemporary socio-political concerns of trans filmmakers and artists challenging the gender binary today.

The July installment begins with a special evening with acclaimed filmmaker, writer, and archivist Jenni Olson, who will present both her own 2005 film, THE JOY OF LIFE, and a film she has selected: the quirky, ahead-of-its time fantasy-comedy SOMETHING SPECIAL (WILLY/MILLY) (1986), which will be screening from an archival 35mm print (from Olson’s collection). The series continues with DESIRE LINES, the award-winning hybrid documentary by Jules Rosskam that transports us to an imaginary gay bathhouse in the past, reframing queer history through a trans lens. Rosskam, one of the preeminent contemporary documentarians of the transgender experience, will be here in person for the screening on July 11. And finally, brought to you all the way from Gothenburg, Sweden, filmmaker and founder/artistic director of the Swedish Archive for Queer Moving Images, Anna Linder will be here in person on Sunday, July 12 to present their own film SPERMWHORE alongside other short films from the SAQMI archive in a program (co-guest-curated by Joey Carducci) entitled Frame Your Future.

The Cinema of Gender Transgression is guest-programmed by Joey Carducci and Angelo Madsen.
Special thanks to Anna Linder; Jenni Olson; Jules Rosskam; Cali Guisto (Frameline); and Mark Johnson (Harvard Film Archive).

More about the films and artists:

Space is Quite a Lot of Things by August Joensalo
(2021, 11 min)
Curiosity about a world without gender sets a journey through a world of jellyfish and disco uncles, creating space for four trans people to share how they relate (or not) to their own gender, imagine visions of their own queer utopia, and reveal whether gender can be felt in your toes.

August Joensalo is a queer and Karelian film director, lens based artist and writer interested in naming, seeing and making visible stories from peripheries, especially those inhabited by trans and Karelian communities. 
Currently, August is working on two feature film projects with Aamu Film Company as well as doing freelance photography gigs.

Car Wash by Juli Apponen (2018, 5 min)
Enjoy this sexy car wash that has nothing at all to do with the film Kustom Kar Kommandos but which brings to mind Kenneth Anger’s experimental classic from 1965.

Juli Apponen used to work a lot with performance and choreography in different configurations – producing and touring in several collaborations and solo works. She is originally from Finland but ended up in Sweden.

Filming dad’s ass while he’s chopping logs with his chainsaw (2018, 23 min)
In “Filming dad’s ass while he’s chopping logs with his chainsaw” Max Göran visits his father in a rural Swedish region where he works as a lumberjack. With the use of a camcorder he approaches their relationship marked by political disagreement and different life circumstances. Under his son’s camera gaze the father performs himself and plays with prefabricated images, which at present often revolve around the political sentiments of the working class

Max Göran (b. 1987) is an artist and filmmaker who lives and works between Berlin and rural Sweden. She has an MFA from Goldsmiths and studied with Josephine Pryde at the Berlin University of the Arts. Solo/duo exhibitions include Cell Project Space in London, Ceradon and Jenny’s Gallery in Los Angeles. Her work has also been shown at festivals and in group exhibitions such as Kaunas 15th biennial; Gothenburg film festival; Galerie Neu; CPH:DOX; Kasseler Dokfest; #7 Athens Biennale; New Contemporaries; Kunstverein München and European Media Art Festival.

Cry alliance of our hatred by Lasse Långström and Verklighetens Folk (2010, 6 min)
Activist Musical from 2010, The election year. Anarchists are so desperate that they decide to make an election song in order to get people to vote for something other than the Right Wing-Alliance.

Lasse Långström is a film director and artist with a punk based approach to film production. Collaborating with friends in the making of anarchist musicals and awareness raising homoeroticism.
Lasse is part of The homosex syndicate of precarious avantgarde artists, a network of artists on the verge of break-trough/down.

I’m continuously crying tears of estrogen and tears of testosterone (2020, 5:30 min)
The history of people who transgressed expected norms around gender and sexuality is quite extreme. Our ancestors have experienced both love and hate, sometimes even at the same time. I’m continuously crying over our predecessors, friends, lovers, partners and parents who died far too soon. And for those who never got to be any of that. I remember you all. May your memory be a revolution.

Zafira Vrba Woodski is a Swedish-Czech artist, poet, death doula, and interfaith minister living in Sweden. Zafira’s artistic practice explores chosen kinship, queer historiography, grief work, contemporary archaeology, mental health, and trans perspectives. Alongside their art, Zafira runs High Heel Funerals & Ceremonies, offering support and ceremonies for LGBTQIA+ communities.
@revzafira    

Spermwhore a film by Anna Linder
2016, 12 min, 4:3, color/bw, sound 5.1, original format: Super-8 Screening Format: H264/mp4, DCP
A queer experimental film about unwanted childlessness in a world where normative heterosexual relationships dictate who can become parents and in what way. When it comes to reproduction our merciless bodies reduce us to merely a set sex or given gender. But the longing for children is not limited to our bodies, and the possibility of pregnancy can be gifted, shared and undertaken together.

Anna Linder is a filmmaker, artist and curator. Linder is interested in processes, the periphery, interpersonal relationships and manual work that find expression in moving images, installations or performance. In Spermwhore Linder depicts a form of queer experience that transcends a hetero-normative order, through a collective process.