HERE TV Relaunches Film Initiative Spotlighting Stories Unique To LGBT Experience
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HERE TV, America’s first and largest LGBTQ+ premium subscription TV and streaming service, has announced its partnership with Frameline Distribution, the world’s only non-profit LGBTQ+ film distributor, to relaunch the Frameline Voices program, a curated program of diverse and impactful short films representing experiences unique to LGBTQ+ people and communities.
Five of the seven short films (Flex, Blackness Is Everything, Four Fruitbites, The Rogers, and My Aunties) are available now on all HERE TV platforms. Two additional titles, Noor and Layla, and Luv U Cuz will premiere on HERE TV in January 2022.
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“We are honored to partner with Frameline Distribution for the launch of the 2021 Frameline Voices program,” says Christopher Donaldson, VP of Content at Here Media. “Together, we can accomplish our shared commitment to amplifying and supporting queer voices and to further representation by showcasing a rainbow-wide range of stories about LGBTQ+ people that illustrate the power of diversity and inclusion.”
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HERE TV has also partnered with Frameline Distribution to acquire three projects from acclaimed director Mark Christopher for a retrospective of his award-winning short films, in addition to a special Director’s Voice, which features interviews with Mark and is only available on HERE TV. Christopher is a screenwriter and director most known for directing “54” (1998), starring Ryan Phillippe, Mike Myers, Salma Hayek, and Neve Campbell. Christopher also directed three short films, all of which are streaming on HERE TV: The Dead Boys Club (1992), an influential short of the New Queer Cinema wave as cited by B. Ruby Rich in her Sight & Sound article that defined the genre; Alkali, Iowa (1995), winner of the Teddy at the 1996 Berlin International Film Festival, and Heartland (2007), which screened at numerous festivals including Frameline and Outfest.
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“We’re delighted to continue our collaboration with Here Media to bring the special fun of a Frameline festival to all screens everywhere, with our Frameline Voices program,” says Lindsey Hodgson, Frameline’s Director of Distribution & Educational Programming. “Our new cohort of Voices filmmakers are the fiercest and freshest of LGBTQ+ storytellers, bringing us stories with unique points of view and all kinds of hilarity, heart, and soul. While also acknowledging the ongoing and generous support of the NEA Grants for the Arts, without whom this program would not be possible.’
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Frameline Voices 2021/22 Selections
4 Fruit Bites Dir. Dave Quantic | 2021 | USA
An introduction to four unique queer, trans, and genderqueer voices as featured in the Fruitbowl Podcast.
Blackness Is Everything Dir. Alba Roland Mejia | 2021 | USA
This experimental/performative short film celebrates the diversity of the Black diaspora in the Bay Area.
Flex Dir. Matt Porter | 2020 | USA
Charles explores the gray areas of his own sexuality after going through an unexpected breakup. Starring Charles Gould (Bonding), Charles Rogers (Search Party, Men Don’t Whisper), and Brianna Baker (Suicide Kale).
Luv U Cruz Dir. Eric Pumphrey | 2021 | USA
Set in a not-too-distant future, two cousins bond over the course of a night on the town, until their relationship is tested in more ways than one.
My Aunties Dir. Richard O’Connor | 2020 | USA
Raised by gay parents in the early 1980s, Stefan Lynch was cared for and loved by a group of adults, largely gay men, who he called his “aunties.” Stefan remembers the succession of AIDS-related illnesses in his family, but even in the face of sickness and loss, his aunties showed him how to survive and care for one another.
Noor and Layla Dir. Fawzia Mirza | 2021 | Canada
Noor and Layla are breaking up. Is it the end of the road for these two Muslim women… or is it just the beginning?
The Rogers Dir. Joe Wilson & Dean Hamer | 2020 | USA
An intimate glimpse of the first visible group of transgender men in the Pacific Islands: the Rogers of Samoa. From the loneliness of family rejection and homelessness to the camaraderie of church, cooking, and dance, their stories reveal the challenges and possibilities of life in an island society rooted in culture and tradition.
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ABOUT HERE TV
Here TV launched in 2004, making it America’s first and largest SVOD LGBTQ+ TV video channel. It features an Award-Winning library of movies, series, shorts, and specials dedicated to equality, relationships, and Pride. The library includes Academy award-winning film “Gods and Monsters”, in addition to receiving five Daytime Emmy® Award nominations including a 2021 win for “Girl’s Voices Now: Under the Scarf” and a 2019 nomination for A Long Road to Freedom: The Advocate Celebrates 50 Years. Here TV reaches millions of diverse, cultured, and engaged viewers every month.
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