G. Chesler

G. Chesler (they/them) is a professor and filmmaker who finds meaning in pixels and grain. They have directed and produced 18 films on gender, disability, the body, and racial justice which have enjoyed world-wide exhibition and broadcast.

G. Chesler (they/them) Directs and Produces documentary and narrative films addressing sexuality, the body, gender and racial justice. They are a white trans genderqueer disabled filmmaker. G.'s most recent documentary Connection | Isolation on trans lives in the COVID pandemic was awarded the Jury Prize for Best Film at the Divine Queer Film Festival in Torino, Italy and is exhibiting at festivals internationally. G. also works as a documentary Producer on Outliers and Outlaws by Courtney Hermann on the migration of hundreds of lesbian world-builders to Eugene, Oregon from the 1960’s-1990’s. G is a PGA Create Fellow and Repro+ Justice Fellow for their recent work Producing Intersex Justice by Aubree Bernier-Clarke. They are a Professor of Film and Gender Studies at George Mason University, teaching courses on documentary, film theory, screenwriting, producing, and directing.

G.’s previous film projects include Period the End of Menstruation on pharmaceutical trends changing popular understandings of menstruation and gender. Period led an international conversation on menstrual suppression when it was covered on the front page of The New York Times and in major media outlets globally. G. also Produced the award-winning documentary (and New Day film) Out in the Night on Black lesbian and gender non-conforming friends who were criminalized for self-defense. Out in the Night premiered on PBS and LOGO simultaneously, and launched the United Nation’ Free+Equal film campaign combatting homophobia and transphobia worldwide. G. co-edited and Associate Produced Zeinabu irene Davis' landmark film Spirits of Rebellion: Black Film at UCLA on this independent filmmaking movement that began at UCLA. Spirits was awarded the Best Diaspora Documentary at the African Academy Awards and Best Documentary (Audience and Jury) at Blackstar Film Festival. G.’s recent short films include the rom-com The Pick Up about a sullen teen taking a wrong turn home from swim practice which won the Best Short Film at Cineffable Paris and image+nation Montreal, and Best Screenplay (Jury Prize) at Big Muddy Film Festival. And W.C. Taylor: A Legacy on the first high school serving African American students in Northern Virginia, co-produced with the alumni themselves. This impactful short film is distributed and preserved on Folkstreams.net.

G. regularly serves as a juror and advisor, most recently for the Catapult Script to Screen Competition and as an advisor to filmmakers in the ITVS / NEH Humanities Fellowship. They live in Portland, Oregon. **G. has also made films by their birth name Giovanna. They are the 6th Giovanna in a line, which is how their G6 Pictures film company was named.

New Day Films by G. Chesler

What People are Saying

In addition to confronting COVID’s impact on larger society, Connection | Isolation discusses it from the perspective of eight trans and nonbinary people. Each perspective is detailed and sensitive, allowing the viewer to understand the complexity of different realities, even if the experiences may not be familiar. ...The documentary is informative and informal at the same time. This balance allows those interviewed to be even more accessible while they consider such vital matters as art, activism, loneliness, disability, dysphoria, transphobia, and community.
Ellise Fuchs
Writer, PopMatters
Read more at: popmatters.com
The beauty of Connection | Isolation comes from not only the stunning videography, but the way in which the film continuously honors and uplifts the intersectionality of identity for every speaker …. The film’s focus on diversity and individual experience paves the way for the audience to find pieces of themselves in each story, to connect with the feelings of not only distress and anxiety, but also with the feelings of self-discovery and euphoria.
Parker Dean
Writer, The Evergreen Echo
Read more at: dropbox.com
The Grand Jury Prize is awarded to Connection | Isolation, for having told us about the transversality and intersectionality of these struggles, bringing to light emergencies that concern us closely (trans homophobia, racism, discrimination against neurodivergent people and non-conforming bodies) and for having been able to offer a universal view on the necessary organized or spontaneous connection, being there and knowing how to create "community". Not least, for having presented us with a reality that, in other countries in the world, is suffering because of wicked policies, and reminds us that even in our home not everything is fine and that we must continue to fight. That the gazes of African-American and Italian-African people help us understand the scarcity of our democracy, they help us because from the margins we can see better, as bell hooks teaches us.
Grand Jury Statement
Divine Queer Film Festival
Read more at: divinequeer.it

Awards & Accolades

Grand Jury Prize, Divine Queer Film Festival - Torino, Italy
Portland Film and Events Office, Post-Production Grant
Washington DC Arts and Humanities Fellowship
Create Fellow, PGA (Producers Guild of America)
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