Directed by Jen Rainin, AHEAD OF THE CURVE tells the rollercoaster story of Franco Stevens, who founded Curve magazine in the ‘90s and seeded critical lesbian visibility work that continues today.
Oakland, CA | December 10, 2019 一 Oakland based filmmaker Jen Rainin won the prestigious Paley DocPitch competition at the Paley Center for Media in New York City last night with the documentary film AHEAD OF THE CURVE. Rainin competed against four other emerging filmmakers with a range of projects, pitching her film to a panel of experts. The panel, including Christine Kecher, Manager of Feature Films for A+E Networks, Jill Burkhart, Senior Director of Original Documentary Programming for EPIX, Diana Holtzberg, President of East Village Entertainment, Basil Tsiokos, Director of Programming for DOC NYC and the Nantucket Film Festival / Documentary Programming Associate for Sundance Film Festival, and Susan Margolin, Founder of St. Marks Productions, judged the projects for uniqueness and viability.
Rainin’s pitch focused on the impact that Franco Stevens had on the lesbian community in the 1990s through her magazine, and Stevens’ response to the news that the magazine is at risk of failing as threats against queer women are on the rise again. The film will be a tool to spark an intergenerational dialogue to help unite the queer women’s community and bring in allies.
Rainin expressed deep gratitude to the Paley Center and stated, “We will use the money to screen the film in cities and small towns across the country, bringing people together just like Franco did with her magazine.”
Other competitors included THE NUCLEAR FAMILY directed by Ari Beser, BLACK + GOLD directed by Khadija Diakite, MY UNDERGROUND MOTHER directed by Marisa Fox, and PUNCH 9 FOR HAROLD WASHINGTON directed by Joe Winston.
Rainin was awarded a $5,000 grant from A&E IndieFilms to be used toward the completion of the film. AHEAD OF THE CURVE is in post-production and expects to premiere in spring of 2020.
For more information, visit CurveMagMovie.com.
Rivkah Beth Medow, Producer
Frankly Speaking Films
aheadofthecurveproducer@gmail.com
Jen Rainin, Director
Frankly Speaking Films
aheadofthecurvemovie@gmail.com
