Latest news with #MargaretMeadFilmFestival
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Parents outraged by trans film for kids at Museum of Natural History: ‘Should be off-limits'
The Museum of Natural History shocked even liberal Upper West Side parents last week by showcasing an animated film featuring a drag-performing fox and a trans kid with an identity crisis – alongside an exhibit 'about sea animals.' The eight-minute stop-motion animation short titled 'Dragfox' – featuring a 'charismatic' fox in drag voiced by Sir Ian McKellen — played last weekend on a loop inside the august Milstein Hall in the shadow of the famed 94-foot long blue whale. In one scene 11-year-old Sam twirls around with his sister's pink dress, eventually wearing it. The flamboyant fox, 'Ginger Snap,' snatches it and breaks into a drag musical number as the duo embark on a 'magical journey' in the attic. 'What on Earth is this doing playing in the Natural History Museum? No connection whatsoever to space, the ocean, anything,' blasted one stunned museum-member mom in an online parents group. 'There's a time and place for drag queens but the AMNH isn't it,' added the mom about the museum, which received at least $17 million in government funding in 2024, according to its financial disclosures. The mom was galled that the subject matter 'was intentionally placed in front of us, in cartoon format, with no posted forewarning, in an exhibit about sea animals.' The 'family friendly' series, part of the annual Margaret Mead Film Festival, was innocuously called 'Our Friends, The Animals' and described a collection of five 'imaginative' shorts that explore 'the deep and often mysterious connections between humans and animals' told through 'myth, magic and quiet moments of discovery.' De-transitioner Oli London rejected the film's sentiment that transitioning magically brings happiness. 'Children should not be exposed to gender ideology in any format,' said London, who's 35 and detransitioned two years after beginning the grueling process. He railed against the animated film aimed at 'targeting' youngsters by including a character with a 'cute, friendly-looking fox . . . encouraging them to become confused with their gender identity and become trans. Children should be off-limits from radical gender ideology.' Parents accused the museum of straying from its mission to 'discover, interpret, and disseminate —through scientific research and education — knowledge about human cultures, the natural world, and the universe.' Instead of understanding science, they're 'ignoring' it by 'presenting something that's ideological as scientific fact,' said Natalya Murakhaver, an UWS mom-of-two and documentary filmmaker, who blasted the screening as 'predatory behavior for young, impressionable children. 'I think we have activists running the museum who are trying to portray their idea of reality as fact, when it's actually ideological,' she added. But 'Dragfox' director, Lisa Ott, exulted during a 2024 BAFTA award acceptance speech that the short 'celebrates drag queens and trans joy.' The singular goal of the film was to 'have one little queer kid or trans child out there feel a little bit less alone.' The festival is a way to 'step beyond your comfort zone to listen, feel, and see yourself reflected in the stories presented on screen,' insisted Jacqueline Handy, the AMNH Director of Public Programs. It's more insidious than that, said downtown mom of two, Jacqueline Toboroff. Showing a loaded film aimed at kids is 'predatory indoctrination' meant to sow chaos, she said. 'It's an attempt to dislodge American traditions,' said the author of 'Supermoms Activated,' claiming that the focus on kid-rich environments – 'libraries, schools and museums' – is an 'intentional effort to groom these kids. 'It's meant to sexually exploit impressionable minds and to mainstream sexual deviance.' New York is among the states with the most gender-affirming care, with 1,154 minors in the state who were sex change patients between 2019 and 2023. There's social contagion being artificially created and 'harming a new generation of kids that can't escape this ideology,' according to Maud Maron, a parents-rights activist in NYC running on the Rrepublican ticket for Manhattan district attorney against Alvin Bragg. She added, 'You just don't have a right to push it down New Yorkers' throats in taxpayer-funded institutions.' The museum said the festival is funded by the New York State Council on the Arts with support of the 'Office of the Governor,' but Gov. Kathy Hochul's spokesperson insisted the state stopped directly funding the film festival in 2021. 'The state did not allocate funding for this film festival and was not involved in the curation or selection process,' the spokesperson insisted. The arts council budgeted $25,000 in capital grants for the museum this year and that money may have been funneled towards this year's festival, said the rep. AMNH did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
New York Post
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Post
Parents outraged by trans film for kids at NYC's Museum of Natural History
The Museum of Natural History shocked even liberal Upper West Side parents last week by showcasing an animated film featuring a drag-performing fox and a trans kid with an identity crisis – alongside an exhibit 'about sea animals.' The eight-minute stop-motion animation short titled 'Dragfox' – featuring a 'charismatic' fox in drag voiced by Sir Ian McKellen — played last weekend on a loop inside the august Milstein Hall in the shadow of the famed 94-foot long blue whale. In one scene 11-year-old Sam twirls around with his sister's pink dress, eventually wearing it. The flamboyant fox, 'Ginger Snap,' snatches it and breaks into a drag musical number as the duo embark on a 'magical journey' in the attic. Advertisement 3 The film played on a loop in the museum, surprising parents. Dragfox 'What on Earth is this doing playing in the Natural History Museum? No connection whatsoever to space, the ocean, anything,' blasted one stunned museum-member mom in an online parents group. 'There's a time and place for drag queens but the AMNH isn't it,' added the mom about the museum, which received at least $17 million in government funding in 2024, according to its financial disclosures. The mom was galled that the subject matter 'was intentionally placed in front of us, in cartoon format, with no posted forewarning, in an exhibit about sea animals.' Advertisement The 'family friendly' series, part of the annual Margaret Mead Film Festival, was innocuously called 'Our Friends, The Animals' and described a collection of five 'imaginative' shorts that explore 'the deep and often mysterious connections between humans and animals' told through 'myth, magic and quiet moments of discovery.' De-transitioner Oli London rejected the film's sentiment that transitioning magically brings happiness. 'Children should not be exposed to gender ideology in any format,' said London, who's 35 and detransitioned two years after beginning the grueling process. Advertisement 3 Jacqueline Toboroff called the film 'predatory indoctrination.' Obtained by the New York Post He railed against the animated film aimed at 'targeting' youngsters by including a character with a 'cute, friendly-looking fox . . . encouraging them to become confused with their gender identity and become trans. Children should be off-limits from radical gender ideology.' Parents accused the museum of straying from its mission to 'discover, interpret, and disseminate —through scientific research and education — knowledge about human cultures, the natural world, and the universe.' Instead of understanding science, they're 'ignoring' it by 'presenting something that's ideological as scientific fact,' said Natalya Murakhaver, an UWS mom-of-two and documentary filmmaker, who blasted the screening as 'predatory behavior for young, impressionable children. Advertisement 'I think we have activists running the museum who are trying to portray their idea of reality as fact, when it's actually ideological,' she added. But 'Dragfox' director, Lisa Ott, exulted during a 2024 BAFTA award acceptance speech that the short 'celebrates drag queens and trans joy.' The singular goal of the film was to 'have one little queer kid or trans child out there feel a little bit less alone.' The festival is a way to 'step beyond your comfort zone to listen, feel, and see yourself reflected in the stories presented on screen,' insisted Jacqueline Handy, the AMNH Director of Public Programs. It's more insidious than that, said downtown mom of two, Jacqueline Toboroff. Showing a loaded film aimed at kids is 'predatory indoctrination' meant to sow chaos, she said. 3 Parents were surprised the show was showing, on a loop, in an exhibit about sea life. Robert Miller 'It's an attempt to dislodge American traditions,' said the author of 'Supermoms Activated,' claiming that the focus on kid-rich environments – 'libraries, schools and museums' – is an 'intentional effort to groom these kids. 'It's meant to sexually exploit impressionable minds and to mainstream sexual deviance.' Advertisement New York is among the states with the most gender-affirming care, with 1,154 minors in the state who were sex change patients between 2019 and 2023. There's social contagion being artificially created and 'harming a new generation of kids that can't escape this ideology,' according to Maud Maron, a parents-rights activist in NYC running on the Rrepublican ticket for Manhattan district attorney against Alvin Bragg. She added, 'You just don't have a right to push it down New Yorkers' throats in taxpayer-funded institutions.' Advertisement The museum said the festival is funded by the New York State Council on the Arts with support of the 'Office of the Governor,' but Gov. Kathy Hochul's spokesperson insisted the state stopped directly funding the film festival in 2021. 'The state did not allocate funding for this film festival and was not involved in the curation or selection process,' the spokesperson insisted. The arts council budgeted $25,000 in capital grants for the museum this year and that money may have been funneled towards this year's festival, said the rep. AMNH did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
At Chicago's Doc10, Filmmakers Say the Streaming Boom Is Over, and Governor Pritzker Talks Politics: ‘We Are Seeing Autocrats Exploit Those Who Struggle to Make Ends Meet'
The documentary streaming boom is officially over, according to Academy Award-winning producer and Impact Partners co-founder Geralyn Dreyfous. 'The market for streamers is not coming back,' Dreyfous said during a panel discussion at Chicago's Doc10 film festival over the weekend. 'To go into these film festivals like Sundance and think that you are going to get a big sale is la la land (thinking). The numbers are just not there. One of 20 films is being bought out of Sundance. When we started Impact Partners, eight out of 10 of our films were being bought. That's gone. Gone! We have to create new distribution models.' More from Variety Margaret Mead Film Festival Offers New Yorkers a Chance to See Acclaimed Docs Without Distribution Film About Democracy Now! Journalist Amy Goodman To Open Third Annual DC/DOX Festival (EXCLUSIVE) Isabel Arrate Fernandez Named as IDFA's New Artistic Director Dreyfous, whose credits include 'The Invisible War,' 'Won't You Be My Neighbor?' and 'Navalny,' helped launch Jolt, an AI-driven, direct-to-consumer streaming platform, in 2024. Meant to give a literal jolt to indie docs that might have been a success at festivals across the world but have not found traditional distribution, Jolt was created as a result of the doc distribution crisis. Recent Jolt titles include 'Hollywoodgate,' 'Zurawsksi v Texas,' and 'The Bibi Files,' a documentary from Oscar-winners Alex Gibney and Alexis Bloom. Submarine co-president Josh Braun and Red Owl co-founder Alice Quinlan joined Dreyfous on the May 3 panel discussion titled '6 Radical Ideas: Disrupting the Documentary Landscape' to discuss the current state of the nonfiction marketplace. Braun admitted that sales are taking longer than expected to make. 'Submarine went to Sundance this year with eight films, and we left without selling a single film,' said Braun. 'That's the first time that that ever happened. Now we have sold four of the eight. If those four had sold in February, we would have felt really great. Now that they are selling, and it's May, and we are afraid to feel really great because it's sort of like, was that evidence of anything? We don't know.' In addition to creating a highly curated viable mechanism that will give audiences the docs they want to see, Dreyfous also suggested the creation of an Angel Studios for the left. The studio that often releases faith-based movies lets members of its Angel Guild choose which film and television projects the company will market and distribute. 'Why can't we have our own guild?' asked Greyfous. Oscar-nominated filmmaker Heidi Ewing, whose doc 'Folktales' screened at Doc10 and recently sold to Magnolia, commented on the state of the industry. 'From a filmmaker's perspective, going to these festivals is a lead-up tour to a theatrical,' Ewing said. 'They actually become your evangelists. People will see the movie (at Doc10) and will tell their friends to come see it when it opens (theatrically) in Chicago. I'm not being an optimistic, pie in the sky, naivete, but people are really lonely and they want to gather. We have to reach them directly. So, I do believe in the theatrical. There is a way to get people to come.' Ewing was one of several filmmakers with high-profile docs that attended the tenth edition of Doc10. Geeta Gandbhir ('The Perfect Neighbor'), David Osit ('Predators'), and Academy Award winner Mstyslav Chernov ('2000 Meters to Andriivka') were also in attendance. All three films debuted at Sundance 2025. Chernov's '20 Days in Mariupol' offered audiences a visceral view of the first days of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and its civilian toll. In '2000 Meters to Andriivka,' Chernov turns his lens toward Ukrainian soldiers — who they are, where they came from, and the impossible decisions they face in the trenches as they fight for every inch of land. During a Q&A with Doc10 head programmer Anthony Kaufman, the director explained why he made another film about Ukraine. 'When I'm going around the world, I keep hearing questions – 'What is going to happen next to Ukraine? How do the Ukrainians feel? How do they feel about the land?' Chernov said. 'I always want to give an answer, but I never know what to say, so I try to make a film about it. I really want those numbers of casualties, those kilometers that are just statistics, those names that are just names on the map to have meaning to them. That's why this film exists.' The five-day festival concluded on May 4 with a screening of Michelle Walshe and Lindsay Utz's 'Prime Minister.' The doc about former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern won rave reviews after premiering at Sundance in January. Illinois Governor JB Pritzker introduced the film and the guest of honor, Jacinda Ardern. 'What you will see in this documentary is a thoughtful and compassionate person navigating the complexities of her private life while facing the tension and the pressure of public office,' Governor Pritzker said. 'It's the type of empathetic leadership that I truly admire, and we should demand it from all of our public servants. (Arden) should remind us of the enormous contrast between the hero of this tale and the politicians who choose to approach public service with cruelty and ignorance. Those elected officials go about their daily lives, facing the challenges that we all do. But instead of choosing empathy as a response, they decide to make those burdens heavier for other people.'He added, 'We are seeing autocrats exploit those who struggle to make ends meet. They think that showing strength means punching down on the most vulnerable. They are convinced that those who look or live or love differently from you don't experience the same joy or the same pain that you have. In this documentary and throughout (Arden's) premiership, we see that strong and effective leadership is founded upon empathy and kindness, especially in times of crisis. She shows us that strength comes from recognizing and acting on behalf of our shared humanity.'Doc10 fest was hosted by Chicago Media Project. Best of Variety Oscars Predictions 2026: 'Sinners' Becomes Early Contender Ahead of Cannes Film Festival New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week What's Coming to Netflix in May 2025
