BAY AREA REPORTER -- The filmmaking program, open to graduate and undergraduate students, fosters amateur queer filmmakers at SF State through community building, education, and guidance from established queer filmmakers. The grant money will be used to strengthen the mentorship program for the 20 or so current students involved, organize monthly meetings, pay for the cost of student productions, and help launch an online platform in partnership with Frameline, an LGBT media arts organization that holds San Francisco’s annual LGBT film festival, which will be used to promote student films to the public.
Symons, along with two other queer SF State professors of Cinema — Scott Boswell and Cheryl Dunye — founded the program almost three years ago. As part of the expansion of the Queer Cinema Project (QCP) mentorship program, the founders and other queer filmmakers will pair with students to give them feedback and guidance on their projects.
One student, Sam Davis-Boyd, a master’s student at the School of Cinema and QCP’s intern for the last two years, said networking with other queer filmmakers has been one of the most important aspects about being a member of QCP.
“To be able to be in a room with other queer filmmakers, watching them cut their films, and getting their feedback has been very valuable,” the 26-year-old lesbian said.
Photo by Hannah Anderson