The 2012 Gender Reel will unfurl next month with a trove of interactive explorations of gender nonconformity.
The second-annual multimedia festival will run Sept. 7-9, with most of the activities taking place at William Way LGBT Community Center, 1315 Spruce St.
The center is a new addition to the lineup which, said Gender Reel chair Joe Ippolito, outgrew its inaugural digs.
The festival is designed to spotlight trans and gender nonconforming artists and work that explores the depths of this population.
This year’s event will feature 20 films, 10 performance pieces, a series of workshops and panels and an art gallery showcasing the work of eight artists and photographers, on display in the center’s lobby through the end of October.
In preparing for the event, Ippolito said organizers were eager to continue expanding its reach into all areas of the community.
“This year we did a lot of work to network with different communities that were not as involved last year,” he said. “We wanted to tap into additional groups as part of our commitment to diversity and to making sure we address the entire community. That was definitely an area where we wanted to grow, and we have.”
The festival will kick off with a wine and cheese reception at 6 p.m. Sept. 7 at the center, followed by a discussion and performance by New York City performance artist Ignacio Rivera.
The weekend’s workshops will cover topics such as filmmaking for grassroots activists, queer writing, historical film representations of the transgender community, watercolor as self-expression and self-published erotica.
Panels will include discussions with community leaders about queer people of color in film and television, with the founders of Queer 2 the T radio program and with the filmmaker of “TRANS,” as well as a number of professionals who work with the trans community.
The film series features a variety of formats, from shorts to full-length, and the festival will include live performances that range from storytelling to musical pieces.
Ippolito said the festival is primarily meant as a vehicle for education, both for those inside and outside the community.
“We want people to learn something new about the transgender or gender-variant community, even if they’re a trans person themselves,” he said. “We want to broaden the scope of how people look at the community. Compared to a conference, with a festival like this you can learn through imagery, through art and films, which I think is a powerful format in which to convey messages and have people express their experiences.”
As the festival continues to grow year to year, Ippolito said he would eventually like to launch Gender Reel as a production program to assist emerging transgender artists.
“Once we establish our nonprofit status and are able to get more grants, I see this not just as a place to show people’s work but as a way to also offer tangible support in these artists doing the work.”
An all-festival pass is available for $20, or a one-day pass is $10. Passes do not include admission to MixTape, the official Gender Reel after-party at 9 p.m. Sept. 8 at Tabu, for which there is a suggested $5-$10 donation.
For more information, visit www.genderreelfest.com.