Jenni Olson

Film archivist and former director of the San Francisco Lesbian and Gay Film Festival Jenni Olson created this fast-paced and often funny, campy 75-minute film comprised entirely of spliced together movie trailers. Some of the segments have themes such as a breezy look back at John Travolta's career that includes trailers from such films as Saturday Night Fever, Staying Alive, Grease, Perfect, and Moment by Moment. Other trailers include Mae West in Sextette, the disco camper Thank God It's Friday, Raquel Welch in Kansas City Bomber, Pier Paolo Pasolini's The Gospel According to St. Matthew and the rarely seen Chastity, the serious acting debut of Cher.

An archive-driven exploration of the life, work, and legacy of iconic, pioneering lesbian filmmaker Barbara Hammer.

Over 30 filmmakers and friends of Strand Releasing have come together to honor the company’s indelible contribution to independent cinema over the past thirty years. The participating filmmakers have each created a short film for the project, all shot on iPhones.

Shy is a transgender man who leaves his small town after the death of his father, and heads to the big city to live a life of crime. Along the way, he encounters Valentine, a quirky adoptee, in search of his birth mother. An immediate kinship is sparked between these men and they become partners in crime.

Follows the lives of four queer masculine-presenting BIPOC – all assigned female at birth – as they challenge conceptions of gender identity while navigating life’s hardships and triumphs.

A young woman in the Army must make tough decisions when her love for an older woman causes her to question just where she is going. Adapted from Deb Shoval's 2011 short film of the same name.

From the Marx Brothers to Schindler's List, this compilation of Jewish film trailers offers a glimpse at the history of Jews in American cinema. A mixture of humor, social commentary, and drama, these original coming attractions trailers offer insight into the relationship between Hollywood's studio marketing departments and the growing visibility of Jews in American life. Trailers Schmailers includes spotlights on Woody Allen and Barbra Streisand, an overview of films about New York Jewish life, a look at the evolution of films about the holocaust, and more.

With a rare gift for unflinching impartiality, director Arthur Dong delves into the lives and attitudes of fundamentalist families who actively oppose homosexuality, despite having gay offspring themselves.

A blending of documentary and experimental narrative strategies, combining stunning 16mm landscape cinematography with a bold, lyrical voice-over to share two San Francisco stories: the history of the Golden Gate Bridge as “suicide landmark,” and the story of a butch dyke in San Francisco searching for love and self-discovery. The Joy of Life is a film about landscapes, both physical and emotional.

A feature-length documentary film-in-progress chronicling the birth and development of LGBTQ comics through the eyes of several of its pioneers. The film was inspired by the Lambda award-winning book of the same name, and dives deeper into the personal stories at the heart of this unique underground artistic scene. Featuring Alison Bechdel (Fun Home), the recently departed Howard Cruse (Stuck Rubber Baby, Gay Comix), and others, this film aims to show how DIY queer cartoonists have represented, poked fun at, and celebrated LGBTQ lives and experiences in challenging, humorous, and profound ways.

Here are theatrical trailers for 27 mainstream and art-house films, presented chronologically from "Tea and Sympathy" to "Outrageous!" This spectacular showcase of vintage movie trailers offers a crash course in lesbian, gay, bi and transgender (LGBT) movie history and a colorful look at nearly every major mainstream queer-themed film produced between 1953 and 1977! Archivist Jenni Olson is one of the world’s leading experts on LGBT film history — curated from her private collection of rare original 35mm coming attractions trailers, Homo Promo has entertained audiences at LGBT film festivals around the world offering a campy cavalcade of coming attractions. Please note: The condition of these original 35mm archival prints varies — enjoy the wear and tear and rest assured that they have now all been donated to the Outfest/UCLA Legacy Project for LGBT Film Preservation where they are now being properly cared for.

A fascinating and unlikely reinvention story, The Royal Road simultaneously explores cinematic spiritual channeling, the conquest and colonization of Mexico and the American Southwest, fading historical Californian urban landscapes, and the passions found in butch identity to achieve an achingly beautiful and poetic defense of remembering. Probing roads from El Camino Real, to the Boulevard of Broken Dreams, to the road right outside the front door, Olson crafts a deeply intelligent and transcending observation of the human condition that reaches for redemption in the embrace of history, nostalgia, mindfulness, and sheer beauty. If you give yourself over to it, it will crack you wide open.

A gay Naked Yoga teacher examines how the Israeli-Palestinian conflict affects the lives of American Jews.

Co-curated by Jenni Olson and the late Black gay activist Karl Knapper, this entertaining showcase of vintage movie trailers traces the evolution of African American cinema through its most crucial period, 1952-1976. Filled with insights on race and social dynamics, this fascinating compendium of coming attractions explores an extensive range of stylistic approaches—Blaxploitation, Comedy, Music Bio, Plantation Drama and more—offering an outrageous joyride through motion picture history. Beyond mere camp, these marvelously condensed gems crystallize a range of African American identities and personalities, tracking the meteoric careers of Sidney Poitier, James Earl Jones, Billy Dee Williams, Richard Pryor, Pam Grier and others through their bold performances in movies both hugely popular and practically forgotten. Afro Promo provides a compact glimpse at the representation of African Americans through twenty-five dynamic years of American cinema history.

A brief reflection on faith, self-loathing and Studs Lonigan.

An offering is passed repeatedly between a Japanese monk and a young novice as their relationship evolves from their initial encounter through their final parting.

This spectacular showcase of vintage movie trailers offers a crash course in lesbian, gay, bi and transgender (LGBT) movie history and a colorful look at nearly every major mainstream queer-themed film produced between 1953 and 1977! Archivist Jenni Olson is one of the world’s leading experts on LGBT film history — curated from her private collection of rare original 35mm coming attractions trailers, Homo Promo has entertained audiences at LGBT film festivals around the world offering a campy cavalcade of coming attractions. Please note: The condition of these original 35mm archival prints varies — enjoy the wear and tear and rest assured that they have now all been donated to the Outfest/UCLA Legacy Project for LGBT Film Preservation where they are now being properly cared for.

Bambi Lake, a notorious San Francisco transgender performer and entertainer, takes us on a stroll down Polk Street, sharing anecdotes and the history behind her song Golden Age of Hustlers, which was written about her time as a street hustler in the mid-70’s.

The film focuses on the light and shadow playing on the walls of the Castro Camera Store, a location in Gus Van Sant’s Milk. The soundtrack features Harvey Milk himself, shortly after his election to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977.

Through voiceover and static San Francisco landscapes this experimental narrative short tells the melancholy story of a butch dyke pining over a one night stand with a straight girl.

Learning can be fun! This package of woman-to-woman safer sex videos features a spicy batch of public service announcements (PSAs) and an international sampling of smart and sexy erotic videos, including Girls Will Be Boys, a drag king date where they skip dinner and a movie; and the silent horror spoof, Cunt Dykula. She's Safe! also features excerpts from Well Sexy Women, the first British-produced lesbian sate sex video; and excerpts from the bold, German-produced Truth or Dare. She's Safe! contains the hottest and most educational safe sex videos ever compiled.

Brooklyn Bloomberg and friends do some steamy kibbutzing in this fascinating piece of Yiddish-keit, circa 1923. Rare 16mm archival erotica footage is overlaid with a hilarious Jewish porno voiceover - sprinkled with colloquial Yiddishisms.

Girl, knife and doll come together in this controversial dramatization of the original early 1990s Tribe 8 queer punk band "Masochist Medley" stage act featuring San Francisco drag king Marya's legendary stage performance as Uncle Rod.

Dutch doors, warehouse windows, and empty streets provide the background for a short tale about past lust and lost love. This glimpse into the drama of a lesbian relationship is revealed through stark visuals and the measured pace of the voice-over, providing a clever contrast between how we see and what we hear.