Jeanette Winterson is an English author. Her first book, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, was a semi-autobiographical novel about a sensitive teenage girl rebelling against convention. Other novels explore gender polarities and sexual identity and later ones the relations between humans and technology. She broadcasts and teaches creative writing. She has won a Whitbread Prize for a First Novel, a BAFTA Award for Best Drama, the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, the E. M. Forster Award and the St. Louis Literary Award, and the Lambda Literary Award twice. She has received an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) and a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to literature, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
But I'm a Cheerleader is a 1999 American black comedy romantic teen film directed by Jamie Babbit in her feature directorial debut and written by Brian Wayne Peterson. Natasha Lyonne stars as Megan Bloomfield, a high school cheerleader whose parents send her to a residential in-patient conversion therapy camp to "cure" her lesbianism. The supporting cast includes Clea DuVall, Cathy Moriarty, RuPaul, and Melanie Lynskey. The film, which has developed a cult following, is noted for its satirical style and is generally considered to be one of the best LGBT films ever made.
Angela Robinson is an American film and television director, screenwriter and producer. Outfest Fusion LGBTQ People of Color Film Festival awarded Robinson with the Fusion Achievement Award in 2013 for her contribution to LGBTQ+ media visibility.
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, in The Oxford Handbook of Queer Cinema, is forthcoming 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.
Maryam Keshavarz is an American filmmaker(Iranian pedigreed) best known for her 2011 film Circumstance distributed by Participant Media and Roadside Attractions, which won the Audience Award at Sundance Film Festival.
Rose Troche is an American film and television director, television producer, and screenwriter.
Smooth Talk is a 1985 film directed by Joyce Chopra, loosely based on Joyce Carol Oates' short story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" (1966), which was in turn inspired by the Tucson murders committed by Charles Schmid. The protagonist and main character, Connie Wyatt, is played by Laura Dern. The antagonist, Arnold Friend, is played by Treat Williams.
Jamie Merill Babbit is an American director, producer and screenwriter. She directed the films But I'm a Cheerleader, The Quiet and Itty Bitty Titty Committee. She has also directed episodes of television programs including Russian Doll, Gilmore Girls, Malcolm in the Middle, United States of Tara, Looking, Nip/Tuck, The L Word, Silicon Valley, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and A League of Their Own.
Thomas "Thom" Fitzgerald is an American-Canadian film and theatre director, screenwriter, playwright and producer.
Go Fish is a 1994 American drama film written by Guinevere Turner and Rose Troche and directed by Rose Troche. The film was a groundbreaking, hip, low-budget comedy that celebrated lesbian culture on all levels, and launched the career of director Troche and Turner. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 1994, and was the first film to be sold to a distributor, Samuel Goldwyn, during that event for $450,000. The film was released during gay pride month in June 1994 and eventually grossed $2.4 million. Go Fish proved the marketability of lesbian issues for the film industry.
Maria Maggenti is an American film director and screenwriter for film and television, who has traditionally created independent films. She was the script editor for the American television series, Without a Trace (2003) and has written many episodes for the show as well, but is perhaps best known for her feature film, The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love (1995). Her film Puccini for Beginners was in competition at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2006. She was also an activist with ACT UP for many years.
Desert Hearts is a 1985 American romantic drama film directed by Donna Deitch. The screenplay, written by Natalie Cooper, is an adaptation of the 1964 lesbian novel Desert of the Heart by Jane Rule. Set in Reno, Nevada in 1959, it tells the story of a university professor awaiting a divorce who finds her true self through a relationship with another, more self-confident woman. The film stars Helen Shaver and Patricia Charbonneau with a supporting performance by Audra Lindley.
Jennie Livingston is an American director best known for the 1990 documentary Paris is Burning.
Andrea Sperling is an independent film producer based in Los Angeles. The films she has produced include Totally Fucked Up, But I'm a Cheerleader, D.E.B.S. and Itty Bitty Titty Committee and the Sundance Top Prize winning Like Crazy.
Lawrence Konner is an American screenwriter, producer and film director. Konner has written over twenty-five feature films, including Mona Lisa Smile, Planet of the Apes, The Legend of Billie Jean, The Jewel of the Nile, and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Konner’s writing for television spans over forty-five years. His works include the HBO series The Sopranos, for which Konner earned an Emmy nomination in 2001, and Boardwalk Empire, for which he received the WGA Award for Best New Series in 2010. He was also nominated for an Emmy for his work as writer and executive producer on the 2016 miniseries Roots. Other television credits include Family and Little House on the Prairie.
A Small Domain is a 1996 short film written and directed by Britta Sjogren. It premiered at the 1996 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Short Film, and subsequently won several festival awards during 1996 and 1997. Sjogren was inspired by her friendship with actress Beatrice Hayes and Haye's relationship with her late husband. Hays took the role of the character based on her.
Freeheld is a 2007 documentary film directed by Cynthia Wade. It chronicles the story of Laurel Hester in her fight against the Ocean County, New Jersey Board of Chosen Freeholders to give her earned pension benefits to her partner, Stacie. On February 24, 2008, it won the Oscar for Best Documentary Short Subject. The documentary also won a Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival in 2007.
Mike Cahill is an American filmmaker.
Amy Virginia Talkington is an American filmmaker, screenwriter, and author.
Alexis Dos Santos is an Argentine film director and producer, screenwriter and editor. He has also shot a number of short and directed music videos. He is considered part of the New Queer Cinema movement.
