G. Chesler
Introduction (2-3 lines)
G. Chesler (he / they) is a Professor of film and gender studies, filmmaker and writer who finds meaning in pixels and grain. They have directed and produced many films on gender, disability, the body, and racial justice which have enjoyed world-wide exhibition and broadcast.
G. Chesler (he / they) Directs and Produces documentary and narrative films addressing sexuality, the body, gender and racial justice through and despite the body. G.'s documentary Connection | Isolation witnessing transgender lives in the COVID pandemic was awarded the Jury Prize for Best Film at the Divine Queer Film Festival in Torino, Italy, and was the finalist in the Best Documentary category at the 2026 University Film and Video Association conference and juried competition. He continues to exhibit Connection | Isolation in educational and community settings and festivals internationally.
He is a Producer's Guild (PGA) Create Fellow and Repro+ Justice Fellow. 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 other films include Producing the award-winning film Outliers and Outlaws by Courtney Hermann on the migration of hundreds of lesbian world-builders to Eugene, Oregon from the 1960’s-1990’s, distributed by Good Docs. They directed and produced 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 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 work in narrative films includes 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. They often work with community in documentary filmmaking, notably W.C. Taylor: A Legacy on the first high school serving African American students in Northern Virginia, co-produced with elder alumni. 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 was an advisor to filmmakers in the ITVS / NEH Humanities Fellowship. Hi is a white, transgender, disabled filmmaker living and working 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.
