Johnny Symons

Last updated

Johnny Symons is a documentary filmmaker focusing on LGBT cultural and political issues. He is a professor in the Cinema Department at San Francisco State University, [1] where he runs the documentary program and is the director and co-founder of the Queer Cinema Project. [2] He received his BA from Brown University and his MA in documentary production from Stanford University. He has served as a Fellow in the Sundance Institute’s Documentary Film Program. [3]

Contents

His latest film, Out Run, [4] co-directed with award-winning filmmaker S. Leo Chiang, premiered at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival [5] and won Best Cinematography for a Feature Length Documentary Film at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival. [6] His documentary Daddy & Papa , about the personal, cultural, and political impact of gay men raising children, [7] [8] premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, broadcast on PBS’s Independent Lens , and was nominated for a national Emmy for Best Documentary. [9] [10] Ask Not, [11] his award-winning feature-length documentary about the impact of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy in the US military, [12] also aired on Independent Lens. [13] Beyond Conception, a feature documentary about the relationship between a lesbian surrogate and a gay male couple, broadcast on Discovery Channel. Symons was co-producer of Long Night's Journey Into Day , which won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary. [14]

Filmography

Awards

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barbara Hammer</span> American filmmaker

Barbara Jean Hammer was an American feminist film director, producer, writer, and cinematographer. She is known for being one of the pioneers of the lesbian film genre, and her career spanned over 50 years. Hammer is known for having created experimental films dealing with women's issues such as gender roles, lesbian relationships, coping with aging, and family life. She resided in New York City and Kerhonkson, New York, and taught each summer at the European Graduate School.

<i>The Celluloid Closet</i> (film) 1995 American documentary film

The Celluloid Closet is a 1996 American documentary film directed and co-written by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, and executive produced by Howard Rosenman. The film is based on Vito Russo's 1981 book The Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in the Movies, and on lecture and film clip presentations he gave from 1972 to 1982. Russo had researched the history of how motion pictures, especially Hollywood films, had portrayed gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender characters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jenni Olson</span> American filmmaker

Jenni Olson is a writer, archivist, historian, consultant, and non-fiction filmmaker based in Berkeley, California. She co-founded the pioneering LGBT website PlanetOut.com. Her two feature-length essay films — The Joy of Life (2005) and The Royal Road (2015) — premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Her work as an experimental filmmaker and her expansive personal collection of LGBTQ film prints and memorabilia were acquired in April 2020 by the Harvard Film Archive, and her reflection on the last 30 years of LGBT film history was published as a chapter in The Oxford Handbook of Queer Cinema from Oxford University Press in 2021. In 2020, she was named to the Out Magazine Out 100 list. In 2021, she was recognized with the prestigious Special TEDDY Award at the Berlin Film Festival. She also campaigned to have a barrier erected on the Golden Gate Bridge to prevent suicides.

Nancy Kates is an independent filmmaker based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She directed Regarding Susan Sontag, a feature documentary about the late essayist, novelist, director and activist. Through archival footage, interviews, still photographs and images from popular culture, the film reflects the boldness of Sontag’s work and the cultural importance of her thought, and received funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Foundation for Jewish Culture and the Sundance Documentary Film Program.

<i>Brother to Brother</i> (film) 2004 American film

Brother to Brother is a 2004 film written and directed by Rodney Evans. The film debuted at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival, where it was awarded with the Special Jury Prize for Dramatic Feature. It went on to play the gay and lesbian film festival circuit where it collected many top festival awards. Brother to Brother was given a limited theatrical release in November 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cheryl Dunye</span> Liberian-American actress and director

Cheryl Dunye is a Liberian-American film director, producer, screenwriter, editor and actress. Dunye's work often concerns themes of race, sexuality, and gender, particularly issues relating to black lesbians. She is known as the first out black lesbian to ever direct a feature film with her 1996 film The Watermelon Woman. She runs the production company Jingletown Films based in Oakland, California.

Outfest is an LGBTQ-oriented nonprofit that produces two film festivals, operates a movie streaming platform, and runs educational services for filmmakers in Los Angeles. Outfest is one of the key partners, alongside the Frameline Film Festival, the New York Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender Film Festival, and the Inside Out Film and Video Festival, in launching the North American Queer Festival Alliance, an initiative to further publicize and promote LGBT film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frameline Film Festival</span>

The Frameline Film Festival began as a storefront event in 1976. The first film festival, named the Gay Film Festival of Super-8 Films, was held in 1977. The festival is organized by Frameline, a nonprofit media arts organization whose mission statement is "to change the world through the power of queer cinema". It is the oldest LGBTQ+ film festival in the world.

<i>Daddy & Papa</i> 2002 American film

Daddy & Papa is a 2002 documentary film made by Johnny Symons. It explores same-sex parenting as seen in the lives of four families headed by male couples. The film also examines the legal, social, and political challenges faced by gay parents and their children.

<i>Licensed to Kill</i> (1997 film) 1997 film by Arthur Dong

Licensed to Kill is a 1997 documentary written, directed, and produced by Arthur Dong, in which Dong, a gay man himself, interviews six inmates who committed murder for reasons related to homophobia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Debra Chasnoff</span> American filmmaker (1957–2017)

Debra Chasnoff was an American documentary filmmaker and activist whose films address progressive social justice issues. Her production company GroundSpark produces and distributes films, educational resources and campaigns on issues ranging from environmental concerns to affordable housing to preventing prejudice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Allen Harris</span>

Thomas Allen Harris is a critically acclaimed, interdisciplinary artist who explores family, identity, and spirituality in a participatory practice. Since 1990, Harris has remixed archives from multiple origins throughout his work, challenging hierarchy within historical narratives through the use of pioneering documentary and research methodologies that center vernacular image and collaboration. He is currently working on a new television show, Family Pictures USA, which takes a radical look at neighborhoods and cities of the United States through the lens of family photographs, collaborative performances, and personal testimony sourced from their communities..

<i>Edie & Thea: A Very Long Engagement</i> 2009 American documentary film

Edie & Thea: A Very Long Engagement is a 2009 American documentary film directed and produced by Susan Muska and Gréta Ólafsdóttir for their company Bless Bless Productions, in association with Sundance Channel. The film tells the story of the long-term lesbian relationship between Edie Windsor and Thea Spyer, including their respective childhoods, their meeting in 1963, their lives and careers in New York City, Thea's diagnosis with multiple sclerosis and Edie's care for her partner, and their wedding in Toronto, Canada, in May 2007, because gay marriage was not then legal in their home state of New York.

Sung-Chang Leo Chiang is a Taiwanese-American documentary filmmaker.

Lindsey Dryden is a British film director, producer and writer.

<i>XXXY</i> (film) 2000 American film

XXXY is a short documentary directed by Porter Gale and Laleh Soomekh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Ahn</span> American film director

Andrew Ahn is an American film director and screenwriter who has directed the feature films Spa Night (2016), Driveways (2019), and Fire Island (2022).

Jennifer Kroot is an American filmmaker whose films include the documentaries It Came From Kuchar (2009) and To Be Takei (2014).

David Weissman is a filmmaker, producer and director. His works include the Emmy-nominated We Were Here documentary and The Cockettes, and he is also the director of short films. Both films were nominated for Independent Spirit Awards in the Best Documentary category.

References

  1. ↑ Cruz, Gospel. "Professor Johnny Symons' 'Out Run' inspires at international film fests". San Francisco State University. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  2. ↑ "Queer Cinema Institute". San Francisco State University.
  3. ↑ "DOCUMENTARY FILM PROGRAM PROVIDES $1.5 MM IN GRANT SUPPORT TO FILMMAKERS IN FY2014". Sundance Institute.
  4. ↑ MATZEN, KELSEY. "LGBTQ+ filmmakers screen documentary for National Coming Out Day". Golden Gate Express. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  5. ↑ Wissot, Lauren (19 April 2016). "Directors Leo Chiang and Johnny Symons Talk Screening LGBT Doc Out Run in Boycott State North Carolina". Filmmaker Magazine. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  6. ↑ MYERS, RANDY (6 June 2016). "Frameline 2016: 10 films to see at 'King of Queer' film festivals". The Mercury News. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  7. ↑ Wilkinson, Kathleen (21 February 2002). "Choosing Fatherhood / Johnny Symons' "Daddy & Papa" looks at gay men becoming dads". SF Gate. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  8. ↑ Pullen, Christopher (2007). Documenting Gay Men: Identity and Performance in Reality Television and Documentary Film . Jefferson, North Carolina, and London: McFarland & Company, Inc. pp.  17–18. ISBN   9780786428076. documenting gay men christopher pullen.
  9. ↑ "THE 25th ANNUAL NEWS AND DOCUMENTARY EMMY AWARD NOMINEES ANNOUNCED TODAY BY THE NATIONAL TELEVISION ACADEMY" (PDF). No. 25. National Television Academy. National Television Academy. July 8, 2004. Retrieved July 24, 2017.
  10. ↑ "Independent Lens: Daddy & Papa". PBS.
  11. ↑ Frank, Dr. Nathaniel (February 2010). Gays in foreign militaries 2010: A global primer. Palm Center, Blueprints for Sound Public Policy.
  12. ↑ Newsweek Staff (5 June 2009). "WORTH IT: PBS DOCUMENTARY ON DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL". Newsweek. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  13. ↑ Perry, Tony (23 June 2009). "Review: 'Independent Lens: Ask Not' on KCET". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  14. ↑ MITCHELL, ELVIS (6 October 2022). "FILM REVIEW; Following South Africa's Wrenching Road to Truth". The New York Times.
  15. ↑ "Films: TWIST features focus on queer APIs, Mekong a violent flick". The International Examiner. 12 October 2016. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  16. ↑ "Ask Not". SF360.
  17. ↑ Koehler, Robert (19 July 2006). "Review: 'Beyond Conception: Men Having Babies". Variety.
  18. ↑ Bajko, Matthew S. "Gay dads gain visibility". The Bay Area Reporter. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  19. ↑ Takács, Judit (2011). DOING FAMILIES: Gay and Lesbian Family Practices. Peace Institute, Open Society Foundation. p. 14.
  20. ↑ Romesburg, Don (2013). "The Glass Coffin". Studies in Gender & Sexuality. 14 (2: What Age Is Desire?): 163–174. doi:10.1080/15240657.2013.791609. S2CID   144530072.
  21. ↑ Barnhurst, Kevin G. (2007). Media Queered: Visibility and its Discontents. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc. p. 10.
  22. ↑ "Shaving the Castro". Stanford Department of Art & Art History.
  23. ↑ "Production Credits". Iris Films.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.