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Frameline
Category: Local Services Community Service/Non-Profit Community Service/Non-Profit [Edit]
145 9th Street(between Minna St & Natoma St)
San Francisco, CA 94103
Neighborhood: SOMA
(415) 703-8650
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
11 reviews for Frameline
11 reviews in English
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Review from Steven K.
San Francisco, CA
9/12/2011
For the best in queer cinema - hands down the best! The festival is a great community event and I love seeing everyone get excited as Pride season approaches every year. Also I love that they are putting a ton of films up on YouTube - now I can spend the months between special screenings and the festival watching videos. Go Frameline!
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Review from Charles L.
San Francisco, CA
6/17/2010
Truly a bit surprised, at the customer service of Frameline!!
I decided to join at a higher level than the basic member level. Their website offers payment plan. I spoke to the office and arranged that. Unfortunately, I was charged full-price instead of monthly. Then the letter I received stated my payments would end 13-months later, instead of 12. Took a couple phone calls and an email to get this rectified.
Additionally, I had been told at my level, I would receive comp tickets. I called to verify and was told the same. Yet, when I called to redeem some of my comps, I was told I actually wasn't entitled to any comps.
Seems that the left-hand and the right-hand aren't in sync. After all is said and done, I only found 7 movies I wanted to see this year. Oh well, lesson learned!!
I was a member of the Tampa LGBT Film Fest for years -- Frameline may be older, but truly not wiser. -
Review from Megan K.
San Francisco, CA
6/29/2008
Frameline does a fantastic job of putting on the LGBT film festival every year. Virtually every year, I grab my movie buddy who usually has a festival pass and grab her for a flick or two, with the Castro Theatre being my preferred festival venue of sorts. The volunteers are always incredibly nice and welcoming and there's a buzz of enthusiasm and celebration among the ushers and film-goers alike. I've found the films to hit the mark most of the time and have something to offer everyone--gay, straight, bi, trans, or whatever initial you happen to be. This year they gave out free necklaces that consisted of big squishy balls in a variety of colors that started flashing when you squeezed them. They looked much like I envisoned the golden snitch in quidditch matches (think Harry Potter books) to look like. What fun!
Often the films are touching and/or campy, along with the other low-budget charms of independent film. One drawback is tickets go fast, lines are no fun, and even though the internet "service" charges bite, it's worth it to plan your movie selections in advance & get your tickets ahead of time.
I picked a particularly good film this year, "Butch Jamie." Laugh-out-loud funny, both subtle and slapstick humor and a very memorable cat. There was Q & A afterwards with the filmmaker/leading role who was very funny and personable in person as well as in the film. I was happy to hear that it's coming out on DVD in the fall and there's a sequel in the works.Listed in: DoGooder
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Review from Quartknee K.
San Francisco, CA
6/30/2008
The majority of the "films" they presented this year were digital videos - Frameline still refuses to acknowledge this change and yet it represents an enormous shift in the economics of production and distribution of Queer Media. I realize people can still produce poor quality projects with film stock but the higher cost of film means the production budget is big enough to polish off the script and bring in some better actors - not always but more often than not...
I've been attending the San Francisco LGBT International Film Festival long before Frameline re-branded it as the Frameline Festival and I've seen the value for membership decline with each year. Membership basically means nothing anymore. They claim to have events throughout the year but since their 2007 Film Festival, Frameline really only showed one digital video at "the Centre" which is in a seedy neighborhood with little or no street parking. They did it on a Wednesday night which is the same night that every other gay group in town has meetings or events.
The 2008 Festival proved Frameline is too over-extended with other projects to care about running an LGBT Film Festival. I still haven't received a membership renewal notice and they never sent me a catalog - I had to be proactive about everything this year because I didn't want to miss out and by the time the festival actually began I found out that the $50 membership was basically useless as I had to sit in the balcony for half of the features I saw at the Castro Theatre - the balcony seats should have a reduced price because they have less legroom, reduced visibility and its insufferably hot up there even on the coldest days...
With so many other options to see Queer Film & LGBT Media Frameline's Festival seems a bit like an a dinosaur among the mammals... -
Review from Katrina J.
San Francisco, CA
4/29/2009
When the Frameline schedule comes out each year, I pour over it in the same way I used to go through the Scholastic book fliers we used to get in grade school, reading every description and circling those which interest and sometimes even excite me.
Over the years, Frameline's annual LGBT film festival has allowed me to see movies like BEAT and JULIE JOHNSON long before they were released on video. If I'm recalling correctly, neither of those films actually received a theatrical release, so that was pretty much the only way I could have seen them on the big screen. This year, I'm hoping to see I LOVE YOU PHILLIP MORRIS, which is having trouble finding U.S. distribution. However, I know if it's not on the schedule, it's definitely NOT for a lack of trying on Frameline's behalf. -
Review from Cindy E.
Oakland, CA
4/29/2009 6 photos
I have attended Frameline as a volunteer, writer, staffer, programmer, sponsor, community partner and audience goer over the past 13 years that I have lived in SF and it's really one of the best run film festivals in the country. Yep - I have attended lots of other film fests too, including local ones, Sundance,etc. It's a huge job to put on a fest that screens 300+ films, has 70,000+ attendees, has 400+ volunteers, plus hundreds of industry guests to take care of and parties to throw so that filmmakers and industry can connect with one another. It's kind of amazing that anything runs smoothly or on time when you think about it.
When I have worked for Frameline, or when I have worked for other places both for profit and non profit, I have never seen a more dedicated or passionate staff who work long hours all year long to make sure that this event goes off without a hitch. Even when I worked at start ups and places like MTV, I have never seen people care so much about what they do and why they do it than I have at Frameline.
Plus the movies are pretty awesome.
Full disclosure - I recently left a job in the for profit film industry to return to Frameline's staff because I feel so strongly about their work and getting queer film out into the world.
and for what it's worth, I've been attending opening night since 1998 and only once did I see them run out of food. And let me tell you, they made up for it in future years. And... they tend to showcase food from places like Front Porch and Citizen Cake which if you check their yelp reviews, aren't really thought of as mediocre. -
Review from Jenn C.
6/23/2009
I've been going to frameline for about 10 years, ever since my friend Faith first brought me to a couple of movies. For the last four years or so, I have been buying the gold level movie pass - and going to see 20-30 movies over the course of the festival. I love Frameline - the quality of the presentations is usually very high - I can only remember walking out early on 2 or 3 films. They really have made some efforts to green the festival by providing composting and recycling bins this year, as well as eliminating the bulk of the paper audience ballots in favor of text voting. They consistently pick out great films - and members of frameline often get to preview some of the selections between festivals (I got to see 'I can't think straight' last winter with friends - it was awesome!).
The only grudge I have is with the 2008 tshirts - the slogans were rather obnoxious and embarrassing as a woman to wear I LIKE TO WATCH movies with my community, I LIKE UNCUT director's versions, I LIKE TO EAT OUT before going to the movies and so forth... eeep!
Also - would love it if they could have the movies start on time - or - have a "pre-start' time to do all the introductions/thank yous so that people who want to be present for that can do it without putting off the schedules of everyone else (I like a movie to start at 7:00 as scheduled, not 7:30 - please?!?!). -
Review from Hao L.
Mountain View, CA
3/7/2006
Yay indeed for Frameline and the Frameline SF Gay and Lesbian Film Festival held every June. Michael Lumpkin and Matt Westendorf and company do a great job year-round! In addition to the annual Film Festival, there are year-round showings at the GLBT Center, as well as co-sponsored showings at other film festivals. It was through Framline that I got to meet Oscar-winning (yay for being able to say this) director Ang Lee at an advance screening of Brokeback Mountain the Monday after Thanksgiving. I paid a lot for it, but it was so worth it. And through Frameline I got to meet Kyle Maclachlan! (Oh, fire, walk with me! :) And I saw Transamerica last summer. I knew right away that Felicity Huffman would be nominated for an Oscar, you watch her and it's that obvious. And the Weinsteins agreed! Frameline is a necessary part of your filmgoing experience!
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Review from Dan S.
San Francisco, CA
5/10/2010
My husband and I have been attending the film festival every year for the past 15 years. And each year we see some truly wonderful films, and the occasional dog. But that's the great thing about this festival - you get to see lots of films here that you'll never get to see anywhere else, from all around the world, in an audience full of people who are queer, fabulous, and love film and movies as much as we do. These guys manage to pull off a great event year after year, with great films, great parties, and fabulous people. It's the one thing that I look forward to year after year. Great job, folks!
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Review from Stu S.
San Francisco, CA
10/5/2008
Even though my film didn't make it, maybe next year. They've done a consistently good job producing the most important GLBT film festival in the world and now have KC Price as ED and will likely do even better. I really wish they would eliminate the gross amount of seat saving at the Castro Theater showings, it just isn't fair to other premium pass buyers.
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Review from Lijia X.
Berkeley, CA
6/17/2005
yay for the frameline film festival!! and frameline period. they are so amazing & generous.
