Directed by award-winning filmmaker Jay Bedwani (MyMother), Donna is an intimate and candid portrait of the inspiring trans activist, artist and performer Donna Personna. It follows her journey to live authentically as herself and to reconnect with her family. Donna Personna first hit the stage with the legendary Cockettes. Ecstatic lip-synching in San Francisco’s downtown bars is a far cry from Donna’s Baptist upbring in San Jose; now in her seventies, her siblings have never seen her perform or meet her authentic self. The documentary begins when Donna is offered a chance to co-write a play about an overlooked episode in queer history, the Compton’s Cafeteria Riot, in which transgender women Donna knew stood up against police harassment. She writes a character to be played by a young transgender activist. Praised for her writing and emboldened by her new friends, she heads out of the city to be reunited with her sister, Gloria. This revealing and uplifting film is beautifully observed by Bedwani and features mesmerising moments recalled by Donna in her emerging writer’s voice. Donna is a film that shows the strength that can be drawn from your community and proves: it’s never too late to find your métier and truly blossom. ‍

Immersive and sensorial, BEYOND THE AGGRESSIVES: 25 YEARS LATER revisits four of the original subjects from Daniel Peddle’s groundbreaking 2005 film THE AGGRESSIVES – a seminal documentary centering masculine-presenting people of color assigned female at birth. The now iconic Kisha, Trevon, Octavio and Chin are back, sharing an array of their triumphs and challenges, including: pursuing dreams in the arts, surviving the experience of being held in ICE detention, reuniting with estranged children, deciding whether to start families of their own, and seeking gender-affirming healthcare. Through the voices of today’s queer BIPOC, who felt represented and inspired by THE AGGRESSIVES, the new film also delves into how much the language, culture and visibility of the transgender, nonbinary and gender-nonconforming community has evolved, and grapples with the many complexities of gender identity, expectations and expression. All combined, these intimate stories and diverse testimonials reveal compelling insights into the queer experience and paint a deeply moving portrait of four trailblazing heroes.

From Black Power in late-60s Boston, to AIDS activism in mid-80s New York, to Marriage Equality in early-10s San Francisco, Jewelle: A Just Vision (64 mins, 2022) from award-winning filmmaker Madeleine Lim, focuses a joyful and hope-filled spotlight on novelist, playwright, essayist, poet, and journalist Jewelle Gomez. An Ioway and Wampanoag, African American and Cape Verdean, femme lesbian, Jewelle co-founded decades-old social justice organizations that are more relevant than ever. Expansive in her creative imagination, inclusive in her philanthropic leadership, and passionate in her lesbian of color feminist ethics, she is an unrelenting torchbearer for the transformative power of the artist as activist.