THE GENDER PROJECT
DIRECTOR: KIMBERLY REED
Cutting edge scientists researching gender/sex reveal it’s much less binary than people think. Designed to spark conversation across generations – and across political boundaries where anti-trans laws are a political cudgel – The Gender Project combines visually-driven essay filmmaking with character-driven storytelling to show that gender/sex is a many-splendored thing.
PITCH + TEASER
ONLINE VOTING: FRIDAY, APRIL 11 • 10AM PT – FRIDAY, APRIL 25 • 11:59PM
SYNOPSIS
Science is discovering myriad new factors that impact biological sex. Why aren’t broad swaths of the public applying this new knowledge to redefine sex and gender in more complex ways, beyond narrow ideas of the binary that are constrained by simplistic measurements of hormones or chromosomes?
Despite this research, in 2024, 672 anti-trans bills were introduced in the U.S., more than any other year on record, which culminated with the largest single ad-buy of the 2024 campaign being aimed at trans, intersex, and nonbinary people. The trend is spreading worldwide as right-wing political ideologies metastasize. The impact of this kind of rhetoric on gender minorities is immediate and brutal, with hate crimes against LGBTQIA+ people on the rise worldwide.
Gender identity and gender/sex are in the political crosshairs. This is urgent. We need to find a way to think about biological sex and gender in more subtle ways. The Gender Project aims to lead that conversation.
DIRECTORS’ STATEMENT
Everyone has a gender.
But unfortunately, not everyone examines what is probably the most fundamental and controlling social influence in our lives. That’s a shame, because examining “gender inculcation” can be quite liberating. This is especially true at a cultural moment when many state and federal policies confuse gender with biological sex, and seek to codify and enshrine strictly binary laws that simply don’t include all of us.
The Gender Project will prove how inaccurate and futile this discriminatory thinking can be, not only toward the trans and intersex filmmakers at the helm of this film, but also toward all citizens.
Our film will examine the invisible and often utter hegemony that gender/sex seizes in almost everyone’s life. We aim to “get every fish to understand the water in which they swim,” which fosters a world that is kinder, more equitable, and more peaceful.
This goal is urgent and crucial at this moment when broad federal government policy is cleaving TQIA+ folks from LGB people in order to erase us from history. The Gender Project, using fact-based science from pre-eminent biologists, will set the record straight. So to speak.
PROJECT INFO.
| LENGTH (MINUTES): | 85 |
| LANGUAGE: | English |
| START OF PRODUCTION: | April 2023 |
| EXPECTED DELIVERY: | January 2026 |
| SHOOTING FORMAT: | 4K |
| SHOOTING LOCATIONS: | Santa Fe, NM; Cambridge, MA; Oakland, CA; New York, NY; New Haven, CT; Lausanne, Switzerland; Ontario, Canada |
| TOTAL BUDGET: | $1,235,000. |
| PRODUCTION COMPANY: | Big Sky Film |
| PRODUCTION COUNTRY: | United States |
| CONFIRMED PARTNERS: | Ford Foundation, Sundance Documentary Fund, Chicken & Egg Pictures, Field of Vision, Meadow Fund, InMAAT Foundation, Women Make Movies |
| BUDGET GAP: | $880,000. |
| CURRENT PROJECT STATUS: | Mid-Production: We began principal photography in April 2023 – given the political climate and attempted erasure of trans, intersex and non-binary folx, we are accelerating production as much as possible and editing the film concurrently. |
PITCH TEAM
KIMBERLY REED
DIRECTOR
KIMBERLY REED’s trailblazing film PRODIGAL SONS won 14 international awards and was the first documentary by a transgender filmmaker to be theatrically released in the US. Her film DARK MONEY was an award-winning selection at Sundance, promptly named one of Vogue’s 66 Best Documentaries of All Time, nominated for 4 Critics’ Choice Awards and the IDA Award for Best Documentary, shortlisted for an Oscar, and won the duPont Columbia Prize. Also shortlisted for an Oscar was SEAT 31: ZOOEY ZEPHYR.
Kim directed I’M YOUR VENUS, about Venus Xtravaganza from PARIS IS BURNING, which will be released in 2025. She was named one of Filmmaker Magazine’s “25 New Faces” and Out Magazine’s “Out 100.” Her films have premiered at Telluride, Sundance and Tribeca, and have been released on HBO/Max, Netflix, Amazon & PBS. Kim is a member of AMPAS and sits on the Documentary Branch Executive Committee.
ROBIN HONAN
PRODUCER
ROBIN HONAN is an Academy Award-nominated filmmaker, and produced on the Oscar-winning documentary FREEHELD. Inspired in part by losing her mother to breast cancer, Robin’s HBO film MONDAYS AT RACINE celebrates a Long Island hair salon that offers free services to women undergoing cancer treatment, helping them restore a sense of wholeness and joy.
In 2021, her Netflix documentary WHAT WOULD SOPHIA LOREN DO? was short-listed for an Oscar nomination. Robin’s most recent feature length film about a revolutionary t-cell treatment for leukemia, OF MEDICINE AND MIRACLES, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, and won 12 film festival awards. Following years of secrecy and shame, Robin has been a proud and active member of the Intersex community since 2007, and served on the board of InterConnect, one of the leading support and advocacy organizations for Intersex people and their families.
