Welcome to the website for the Gesture Project, a work-in-progress documentary and a cinematic journey into the NYC Kiki Scene, a ‘society within a society’ created and governed by LGBTQ youth of color, where femininity and flamboyance are celebrated and family and community leadership re-imagined. With unprecedented access, GESTURE takes the viewer to the community centers of NYC housing projects, to the streets of Harlem and to the Christopher Street Pier, where Kiki parents and leaders in their early 20’s meet to discuss how to help “the children” overcome the adversities that this young demographic (primarily African American and Latino LGBTQ individuals between 14-25) face. In the film members of the Kiki Scene share remarkable stories of survival and resilience through art and kinship.
GESTURE is born out of a unique collaboration between an outsider (artist and filmmaker Sara Jordenö) and an insider (Kiki house founder Twiggy Pucci Garçon). The film is produced by Annika Rogell & Tobias Janson for Story AB with an original score by DJ MikeQ. Expected première is in early 2015.
We are very happy to work with our new producers, Story AB! Founded in 1998, Story produces creative documentary films for television and cinema. Four award-winning documentary filmmakers and a CEO own and run the company. Story also represents an additional number of talented filmmakers and producers. Story has produced short and feature documentaries as well as animated documentaries, television series and commercial work with a documentary base. The company is today one of the leading production companies focused on documentaries in Sweden and the Nordic countries. Annika Rogell and Tobias Janson will form the producer team of GESTURE. Rogell is a graduate from the leading Film School in Sweden, the Dramatic Institute, with a BA in Film Production. She was the producer of The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975, (2011 World Documentary Editing Award, Sundance, Best Editing, Best Music, Swedish Film Awards), which sold to 30 territories, including a 42-city theatrical release in the USA. Rogell has also worked at other leading film production companies in Sweden and has produced several award winning shorts included Eating Lunch by Sanna Lenken (Berlinale, Tribeca 2013). Tobias Janson has been the CEO and producer at Story since January 2009. His recent films include Belleville Baby (Berlinale 2013), At Night I Fly, (2011 Best Documentary, Swedish Film Awards, Special Jury Award nomination, Sheffield Doc/Fest), Love During Wartime (2010, World Documentary Competition, Tribeca), Facing Genocide (2010) and The Black Power Mixtape (2011).
MORE NEWS…
On May 8th The Gesture Project presented scenes from our film at Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s Downtown Dinner gala, with live performances from members of the Kiki Scene!
GESTURE is now a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. To make a tax-deductible donation online, please visit our Fractured Atlas Donation Page. Contributions for the charitable purposes of GESTURE must be made payable to Fractured Atlas only and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.
In February and April Sara and Twiggy presented the Gesture project at Haverford College in Philadephia and John Jay College in NYC! We also presented it in Malin Arnell’s The Oncoming Corner in February!
David Howe wrote about GESTURE in the February issue of Modern Painters Magazine! Check out our press area for a selection of press about the project, including articles in The Eye, NY Magazine and El Pais. Forthcoming publications include Juke Magazine and Paletten.
