Zackary Drucker: Last News

EXCLUSIVE: Hari Nef (Transparent) is set to portray transgender icon and Andy Warhol superstar Candy Darling in the as-yet-untitled biopic penned by Transparent writer Stephanie Kornick. Deadline exclusively announced the project in 2019.

GLAAD is joining Frameline and NewFest, two major LGBTQ+ film festivals, to host the “Cheers, Queers” celebration at the upcoming Sundance Film Festival. The “Cheers, Queers” event is happening on Friday, Jan. 24 and will feature conversation and party including a “Trans Stories and Storytelling” panel with director Zackary Drucker (“April & Amanda”) and actor Aud Mason-Hyde (“Jimpa”) and a “Raising Our Voices” segment.

John Cameron Mitchell has signed on to produce the upcoming biopic about trans legend Candy Darling!

—Outstanding Nonfiction Feature 32 SoundsDirected by Sam GreenProduced by Josh Penn and Thomas O. Kriegsmann —Outstanding Direction Maite AlberdiThe Eternal Memory Kaouther Ben HaniaFour Daughters —Outstanding Editing Michael HarteStill: A Michael J. Fox Movie —Outstanding Production Mstyslav Chernov, Michelle Mizner, Raney Aronson Rath, Derl McCrudden and Vasilisa Stepanenko20 Days in Mariupol —Outstanding CinematographyAnts TammikSmoke Sauna Sisterhood —Outstanding Original Score JD Samson32 Sounds —Outstanding Sound DesignMark Mangini32 Sounds —Outstanding Visual DesignThomas Curtis and Sean PierceGoing to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project —Outstanding DebutKokomo CityDirected by D.

Hello and welcome to the Scene 2 Seen podcast. I am Valerie Complex, and today we’re talking about the HBO documentary The Stroll with its directors Kristen Lovell (in her directorial debut), and Zackary Drucker, and one of the film’s subjects Carey Smith about the making of the film, how “The Stroll” became a tight knit community, and the repercussions of changes that exist in the Meatpacking District today. Here is a bit more info regarding today’s guest!

There is a raw, dangerous yet distinctly unapologetic demeanor to the grainy archival footage in the documentary film The Stroll, now streaming on HBO, where transgender sex workers bravely walk the streets of New York City and solicit potential customers cruising by in their cars. Winner of the Special Jury Award – Clarity of Vision at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, The Stroll is the story of director Kristen Lovell’s experience living on the streets in the ‘90s and making money as a sex worker in the Meatpacking District of lower Manhattan. 

Guy Lodge Film Critic Queer history is an act of excavation. Telling stories about the LGBTQ+ community — and of transgender people in particular — necessarily requires sifting through archives that are outright hostile to those they document. In “The Stroll,” a new HBO documentary directed by Kristen Lovell and Zackary Drucker, the filmmakers excavate decades’ worth of images to tell the story of trans sex workers in the Meatpacking District of New York City. Ostensibly a slice of local history of an increasingly gentrified city that sees marginalized folks as handily disposable, “The Stroll” is an empathetic portrait of a community still fighting for its own survival. The film opens on footage of a young Lovell, taken from the 2007 doc “Queer Streets,” in which she speaks about how she first turned to sex work to make money — more money, in fact, than what she made at her day job. Her eyes are a bit glazed and she keeps looking away: ashamed, perhaps, of what she’s matter-of-factly describing. We then witness the filmmaker, all these years later, assessing those shots in an editing bay where she further explains how she was likely on cocaine when she had cameras following her close to two decades ago.

Addie Morfoot Contributor Corporate consolidation, along with shrinking publicity budgets and streaming services’ willingness to bury their own content, have made film festivals and series increasingly desirable to documentary filmmakers who are not only seeking distribution, but also to those nonfiction helmers who have found a platform for their work. The rocky landscape has made the competition fierce for a slot at not only top-tier festivals, but also regional film events like New York’s Rooftop Films’ Summer Series. Over the course of the last year, Rooftop Films president Dan Nuxoll received 3,500 film submissions for the nonprofit organization’s 27th annual Summer Series, which kicks off on May 25. Only 23 feature films and seven shorts were accepted. (Not all films have been announced.)

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Hulu is adding three new titles to its growing lineup of original docs: “Freaknik: The Wildest Party Never Told,” “Queenmaker: The Making of An It Girl,” and “The Jewel Thief.” “Freaknik: The Wildest Party Never Told” “recounts the rise and fall of a small Atlanta HBCU picnic that exploded into an influential street party and spotlighted ATL as a major cultural stage,” per Hulu’s description. “Can the magic of Freaknik be brought back 40 years later? Executive producers include showrunner Geraldine L. Porras and director P Frank Williams, as well as Jermaine Dupri, Luther Campbell, Peter Bittenbender and Melissa Cooper for Mass Appeal, Eric Tomosunas for Swirl Films, Terry Ross and Alex Avant. Nikki Byles and Jay Allen are producers.

Charna Flam Outfest has announced the lineup for its 2023 Outfest Fusion QTBIPOC (Queer, Trans, Black, Indigenous and People of Color) Film Festival, which will run from March 24 through April 2. Outfest Fusion will be celebrating its 20th anniversary by showcasing LGBTQIA+ filmmakers and their various films depicting queer and transgender stories. There will be nine features, including two 2023 Sundance documentaries, “Little Richard: I Am Everything” from Lisa Cortés and “The Stroll” from Kristen Lovell and Zackary Drucker. Cortés documentary explores how Richard “Little Richard” Penniman worked through his struggles with his sexuality, all while he made his mark on rock n’ roll. While Lovell and Drucker follow transgender women of color as they detail the community’s history of sex work in New York City.

IFC Films has acquired North American rights to the sci-fi pic Biosphere, marking the feature directorial debut of award-winning producer Mel Eslyn (The One I Love). The film is slated for release in 2023, and will stream exclusively on AMC+ following its debut in theaters.

Veteran producer Mel Eslyn’s feature directorial debut Biosphere, starring Emmy winners Sterling K. Brown (This Is Us) and Mark Duplass (The Morning Show), will be making its world premiere as a surprise Special Presentation at the 47th edition of the Toronto Film Festival. The film will make its festival bow in the Visa Screening Room at the Princess of Wales Theatre at 2:30 p.m. on September 10th.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer“Framing Agnes,” a hybrid narrative and documentary feature film that explores trans lives and history, has sold North American distribution rights to Kino Lorber.Directed by Chase Joynt, the film closely and accurately depicts the journey of trans people past and present through reenactments of transcripts from a notable 1960s UCLA gender study. Based on a short by Joynt which premiered and nabbed awards at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, the project features a cast of trans performers and academics that includes Jules Gill-Peterson, Angelica Ross, Jen Richards, Zackary Drucker, Max Wolf Valerio, Silas Howard and Stephen Ira.The film will make its New York premiere at NewFest on June 5, followed by a theatrical release from Kino Lorber in December. Joynt and Morgan M.

NewFest, the New York film and media organizations has announced the full lineup for its second annual NewFest Pride event – a summer film series returning this year from June 2-6 in a hybrid format featuring a mix of exclusive in-person premieres/panels and virtual screenings. The announcement was made today by NewFest’s Executive Director David Hatkoff and Director of Programming Nick McCarthy.

Caer, an innovative and illuminating semi-documentary about trans Latin women in present-day New York, particularly those willingly employed as sex workers.On the flipside of that is Framing Agnes, the latest from director Chase Joynt, which is just now starting to hit the festival circuit after its recent Sundance debut.The film features an all-star cast including Angelica Ross (Pose), Jen Richards (Disclosure), Zackary Drucker (Transparent), and Silas Howard (Tales of the City), helping to shed light on a little-known slice of real-life and scientific research, specifically the story of a pioneering transgender woman who participated in gender health research at UCLA in the 1960s.Also on tap is a special retrospective screening of By Hook or By Crook, the landmark trans buddy film from 2001 directed by Harry Dodge and Silas Howard. All screenings will be offered with subtitles or captions to maximize accessibility.Streaming starts on Thursday, May 5.

EXCLUSIVE: Framing Agnes filmmaker Chase Joynt, his producing partner Samantha Curley and their production company, Level Ground Productions, have signed with WME for representation, on the heels of the  documentary’s world premiere at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival.

EXCLUSIVE: Fremantle and HBO Max Nordic are getting behind the inaugural European edition of The Writers Lab (TWL), the program devoted exclusively to script development for women and non-binary writers over the age of 40.