Press Release, 11/27/99FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASETranny Fest: Transgender & Transgenre Film Festival "We'd Like to Thank the Academy"Tranny Fest photos, videos, magazine and newspaper articles are now included in the Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy Foundation of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The Margaret Herrick Library collects a wide range of materials documenting film as both an art form and an industry. One of the world's most extensive and comprehensive research and reference collections, it includes more than 20,000 books; 1,400+ periodical titles; 60,000+ screenplays; 200,000+ clipping files; 15,000+ posters; lobby cards, pressbooks and other advertising ephemera; over 6 million photographs; over 300 manuscript and other special collections relating to prominent industry individuals, studios and organizations; sheet music, music scores and sound recordings; production and costume sketches; artifacts; and oral histories. Tranny Fest is the only film festival and cultural week in the world dedicated to generating positive media images of transgendered people. By showcasing films and videos, as well as panel discussions and live performances, Tranny Fest attempts to portray the totality and richness of transgendered lives. Tranny Fest strives to be inclusive of the various racial, ethnic, cultural, gender, gay, lesbian, and bisexual communities which make up the larger transgendered/queer community. Tranny Fest is based in San Francisco where it produces a yearly film festival and a week of events celebrating Tranny culture and through collaboration with community-based non-profit agencies provides outreach and education to and about the transgender community. Tranny Fest was first conceptualized and produced in 1997 by Christopher Lee and Alison Austin. Christopher Lee is a producer/director currently living in the Bay Area. His works include: The Network, Christopher's Chronicles, Trappings of Transhood, Alley of the Tranny Boys, and Sex Flesh in Blood. His work has been screened around the United States and internationally. Alison Austin is a producer and Arts and Entertainment attorney who, for the past decade, has been producing queer events and benefits. Some of her productions include: 'More for Les," a benefit for transgender activist Leslie Feinberg, and 'Alternate Vision: Diverse Images in Queer Cinema,' Oakland's first queer film festival. She is the founding attorney of The Austin Law Group, a law firm dedicated to the arts.
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