Seyi Adebanjo is a genderfluid, queer MFA media artist, born in Nigeria and now resident in New York City. Adebanjo's work aims to generate social awareness about issues of race, gender, and sexuality through the use of multimedia photography, film, digital video, and writings. [1]
Their work has been published by African Voices magazine, Osun State University, Q-Zine, and the Mott Haven Herald . Adebanjo has presented at New York University, and Lambda Literary Foundation, the University Film and Video Association Conference, and the Brazilian Queering Paradigms Conference. [1]
Trans Lives Matter!: Justice for Islan Nettles is a seven-minute film that focuses on the murder of a transgender woman named Islan Nettles in August 2013. [2] The film was screened by PBS Channel 13, as well as the Brooklyn Museum.
Oya! Something Happened on the Way to West Africa! is a short, 30-minute documentary that explores sexual and racial identity. The film examines the experiences of and disparities between queer and genderfluid Africans in Nigeria and New York. [3] The element of spirituality in relation to these topics is also discussed. The documentary is currently screening internationally. [1]
Gwendolyn Audrey Foster is an experimental filmmaker, artist and author. She is Willa Cather Professor Emerita in Film Studies. Her work has focused on gender, race, ecofeminism, queer sexuality, eco-theory, and class studies. From 1999 through the end of 2014, she was co-editor along with Wheeler Winston Dixon of the Quarterly Review of Film and Video. In 2016, she was named Willa Cather Endowed Professor of English at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln and took early retirement in 2020.
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.
Transparent is a 2005 documentary film written, directed, and produced by Jules Rosskam. Its title is a play on the words “trans” and “parent” implying the invisibility of transgender parenting in society today. The documentary follows 19 transgender men from 14 different states who have given birth to, and in most cases, gone on to raise, their biological children and the challenges they face while transitioning.
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..
Zina Saro-Wiwa is a Brooklyn-based video artist and filmmaker. She makes video installations, documentaries, music videos and experimental films.
Kortney Ryan Ziegler is an American entrepreneur, filmmaker, visual artist, blogger, writer, and scholar based in Oakland, California. His artistic and academic work focuses on queer or trans issues, body image, racialized sexualities, gender, and black queer theory.

Eli Erlick is an American activist, writer, academic, trans woman and founder of the organization Trans Student Educational Resources.
Wu Tsang is a filmmaker, artist and performer based in New York and Berlin, whose work is concerned with hidden histories, marginalized narratives, and the act of performing itself. In 2018, Tsang received a MacArthur "genius" grant.
Justice Elio Smith is an American actor. He is best known for his roles in the films Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018), Detective Pikachu (2019), All the Bright Places (2020), Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023), and I Saw the TV Glow (2024).
Tourmaline is an American artist, filmmaker, activist, editor, and writer. She is a transgender woman who identifies as queer. Tourmaline is most notable for her work in transgender activism and economic justice, through her work with the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, Critical Resistance and Queers for Economic Justice. She is based in New York City.
Elle Moxley is an American transgender rights activist. She co-founded the Black Lives Matter Global Network, where she served as a strategic partner and organizing coordinator, and founded The Marsha P. Johnson Institute, where she serves as executive director.
Kenyon Farrow is an American writer, activist, director, and educator focused on progressive racial and economic justice issues related to the LGBTQ community. He served as the executive director of Queers for Economic Justice, policy institute fellow with National LGBTQ Task Force, U.S. & Global Health Policy Director of Treatment Action Group, public education and communications coordinator for the New York State Black Gay Network, senior editor with TheBody.com and TheBodyPro.com, and co-executive director of Partners for Dignity and Rights. In 2021, Farrow joined PrEP4All as managing director of advocacy & organizing.
Queens at Heart is an American short film described as both a documentary and an exploitation film in which four trans women are interviewed about their lives. It was produced in the mid-1960s. The film was digitally preserved in 2009 by the UCLA Film and Television Archive as part of the Outfest Legacy Project for LGBT Film Preservation. Andrea James and Jenni Olson were among those who worked on its restoration.
Steven Canals is an American screenwriter and producer. He is best known for co-creating and executive-producing the FX television show Pose.
Rhys Ernst is an American film producer and director. A trans man, his work explores transgender identity. He is best known for his work on transgender-related television shows, serving as an associate producer on Transparent and the director of its documentary spin-off This is Me. He is also known for his controversial debut feature film Adam.
The Black Lives Matter movement has been depicted and documented in various artistic forms and mediums including film, song, television, and the visual arts. In some instances this has taken place in the form of protest art. These cultural representations have also grown organically among artists who seek to partake in activist efforts in support or in recognition of the Black Lives Matter movement. The themes conveyed in these artistic works address the history of racism and injustice toward people of color in the United States and typically express sentiments of anger and fear as well as solace and hope.
Syrus Marcus Ware is a Canadian artist, activist and scholar. He lives and works in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and is an assistant professor in the school of the arts at McMaster University. He has worked since 2014 as faculty and as a designer for The Banff Centre. Ware is the inaugural artist-in-residence for Daniels Spectrum, a cultural centre in Toronto, and a founding member of Black Lives Matter Toronto. For 13 years, he was the coordinator of the Art Gallery of Ontario's youth program. During that time Ware oversaw the creation of the Free After Three program and the expansion of the youth program into a multi pronged offering.
Sam Feder is a transgender American filmmaker whose work is focused on the exploration of visibility regarding race, class, and gender. Feder is concerned with bringing visibility to trans peoples experiences, and prefers to be identified with gender-neutral pronouns. They are best known for the 2020 Documentary Disclosure. Their films have been nominated for and received multiple awards, including the James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism, the GLADD outstanding Documentary Award, and the Peabody awards.
Islan Nettles was an African American transgender woman who was killed on August 17, 2013.
Kristen Parker Lovell is an American trans rights activist, filmmaker, and former sex worker. After experiencing homelessness as a teenager in New York City during the late 1990s and early 2000s, Lovell went on to work for various organisations advocating for the rights of trans people and sex workers. After studying filmmaking at Lincoln Center, she went on to co-direct the documentary film The Stroll (2023), based in part on her experiences as a sex worker.