A group of queer people from the arts and academia explore a study that contains fragments of the lives of trans people of times past. This was a major health study conducted in Los Angeles in the 1950s. So, what happens when we read it today? What do we want to know about the people from that era? And how do we relate to them now? Framing Agnes is an attempt to connect with the past, reimagining the people from back then through the lens of today’s perspectives. The film takes a carefully and lovingly constructed approach. It centres around a television programme that tries out reenactments of interviews with the people who took part in the study. The actors themselves also reflect on their portrayal of the historical individuals. The archive provided for the film enables early trans biographies to be narrated and seen. But what can actually be seen? What is our desire for looking into the archive? The film poses these very questions, thus conducting a dialogue in the present that tries to cautiously approach the past. The aim is to not talk about the characters from an outsider’s perspective, which makes it vital that the project has its own queer cast and crew. Chase Joynt, as the director, is also visible in the film’s narrative, conducting the conversations himself in the fictional television studio.

This film deals with the experience of violence.

Awards for »Framing Agnes«
NEXT Innovator Award, NEXT Audience Award – Sundance Film Festival 2022 | Sky Documentaries Award – MiX Milano 2022 | Best Canadian Film – Queer North Film Festival Ontario 2022 | Audience Award for Best Feature – XPOSED Queer Film Festival Berlin 2022 | Documentary Jury Award – Wicked Queer Film Festival 2022 | Special Recognition Award for International Doc Feature: Social Impact – Thin Line Film Festival 2022