A UCLA study about sex disorders from the 1950s and 1960s is reenacted in the style of a talk show in Framing Agnes. Using never-before-seen transcripts from the archive of Dr. Harold Garfinkel, filmmaker Chase Joynt sets out to recreate Garfinkel’s interviews with gender non-conforming individuals. Garfinkel’s key subject was Agnes (Zackary Drucker), who would go on to be a cult figure in the trans community.
Framing Agnes is a film best described as an extended dramatization by director Chase Joynt and writer Morgan M Page, with additional historical context provided by trans historian Jules Gill-Peterson. The film employs a cast of transgender artists to play the subjects of Dr. Harold Garfinkel’s study, which in addition to the titular Agnes included black trans woman Georgia (Angelica Ross), trans ambassador Barbara (Jen Richards), reclusive writer Henry (Max Wolf Valerio), working-class man Denny (Silas Howard), and trans teenager Jimmy (Stephen Ira).
Framing Agnes is a film that seeks to recontextualize a point in trans history when gender non-conformity was still an incredibly taboo subject, with the historic 1952 sex change of Christine Jorgensen having only happened a few years prior. The challenges and prejudices of the subjects of Dr. Harold Garfinkel’s study still remain relevant today, as the transgender community continue to fight to be accepted by society.