FRAMING AGNES
A Refocus Film Festival Selection
In the 1950s case files from the UCLA gender health clinic, one name stands out: Agnes. This pioneering, pseudonymized, transgender woman has had her history rewritten multiple times, but her complex truth is still incomplete. After discovering the original case files, Chase Joynt (No Ordinary Man) reframes Agnes’ legacy with the help of an impressive trans cast. Together, this all-trans team reinterprets archival transcripts as talk show. Paired with candid self-reflection and a form-busting confidence, Joynt and Framing Agnes turn the very act of storytelling into a subject of its own in this meta examination of the power, privilege, and perils of visibility.
Winner: NEXT Innovator and Audience Awards, 2022 Sundance Film Festival