NYWIFT Industry Screening: ‘Julia Scotti: Funny That Way’ Screening + Q&A

Join NYWIFT for a screening of Julia Scotti: Funny That Way followed by a Q&A with Director & Producer, Susan Sandler and Comedian, Julia Scotti. Moderated by Tracy E. Gilchrist, Editor in chief of The Advocate. 

In the comedy boom of the late 1980’s Rick Scotti was a busy guy—working clubs across the country when he came to the dawning realization that nothing felt right. At a time when the words “gender dysphoria” and “gender affirming surgery” were rarely heard, Rick’s true awakening at age 47 led to a year of hormonal treatments, surgery, and a new identity as Julia Scotti. And then the doors shut tight. Everyone turned away—former wives, friends, family, comedy world buddies. Most painfully, Julia was shut out from contact with the people she most deeply loved – her children. She reinvented herself, spent a decade teaching, and then several years ago, stepped on stage and began the journey back to the world she loves. In that same period, her children made contact after 15 years of estrangement. The film tracks Julia’s triumphant comeback, the rough life on the comedy circuit, and the return of her children, as comedy becomes a shared language of identity, healing, and joy.

Screening Dates: Film available from Friday, June 11th starting at 9:00AM through Monday, June 14th ending at 12:00AM

Q&A: Monday, June 14th at 4:00pm ET

How to See the Film: A personalized link will be sent to each registrant from Cinesend. 

Cost: $2 NYWIFT Members / $3 Non-Members + Q&A is Free

Register

Panelists

Susan Sandler’s screenplays and teleplays include the Golden Globe nominated Crossing Delancey and Friends At Last, as well as projects for Sony Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox, Disney, TNT, and Columbia. Her work for the stage has been produced in New York, at major theatres across the country, and around the world. Her plays include Crossing Delancey, Under the Bed, The Renovation, The Moaner, If I Were A Train and The Find. Her short The Burial Society featured Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara in their final performance on NPR. Sandler’s work is published by Smith and Kraus, Vintage Press, and Samuel French. She is a full time professor at NYU Tisch School of the Arts Kanbar Institute of Film & Television, where she also guides the Fusion Film Festival. Julia Scotti: Funny That Way won Audience Choice at the Paley Center for New Media Doc Pitch, and is her directing debut.

The Italian word corposo refers to a rich, full-bodied wine. Rich and full-bodied is also an appropriate descriptor for the life of comedian Julia Scotti. Since 1980, Julia has been honing her craft in clubs and theaters throughout the United States and Canada, performing for the first 20 years as Rick Scotti, and now, after a ten-year hiatus, as Julia Scotti for the second 20. Her second act has been the very definition of Corposo. The new and improved Julia has been described by colleagues and press as, among other things, “a force of nature”, and “a comedy chainsaw flying through the room.” Since coming back to comedy in 2011, she has been named one of the Top Five Transgender Comedians in the Country by Advocate Magazine, and has performed at LGBTQ events across the country, and was one of the winners of the Laughlin Laugh Festival in Nevada. But she wasn’t done yet. Simon Cowell said that “you genuinely made me laugh” as she introduced herself to a national audience on America’s Got Talent. She was the first transgender comedian to appear on national television and was a quarter-finalist on the show. Not content to sit on her laurels, Julia went on to record her first, best-selling comedy CD entitled, Hello Boys I’m Back! and is gearing up to record her second one. This year, she is being featured on the Showtime Television Network Special, More Funny Women of a CertainAge. Julia Scotti: Funny that Way directed by Susan Sandler premieres at Nantucket Film Festival 2020. Julia suggested that the film have “Part I” added to the title, because she’s only just begun. If Julia were a wine, she’d be aged just right. And she’d definitely be molto Corposo.

Tracy E. Gilchrist (Moderator) is editor in chief of The Advocate, the legendary LGBTQ+ publication. As an established media veteran, she writes about the intersections of LGBTQ+ equality and pop culture. In her leadership role at the Advocate, she is directly engaged in every level of the iconic brand. Gilchrist’s cover stories include a feature with Kristen Stewart, Clea Duvall, and Mackenzie Davis. Her other cover stories include The L Word: Generation Q’s impact on pop culture for the December 2019/January 2020 issue, and pop star Halsey discussing her queerness for the February/March 2020 issue. Gilchrist created the virtual talk show Inside With the Advocate where she conducts intensive conversations with LGBTQ+ artists and allies about their contributions to queer visibility. In December of 2019, she hosted the Pink Carpet Livestream for Showtime’s Premiere of The L Word: Generation Q. Since becoming EIC, Gilchrist has moderated the “Out for Choice” panel for NARAL Massachusetts on the intersections of LGBTQ+ identity and reproductive freedom and “Ask Us Anything” #Love Still Wins: Pride Past, Present and Future, with Prop 8 plaintiffs Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo for the Octagon Sports Entertainment Network. In 2017, she launched and co-hosted The Advocates Podcast. Beyond her passion for cinema, Gilchrist is active in the community, moderating panels at the Los Angeles LGBT Center. For AIDS Lifecycle, she is a training ride leader and the captain of the award-winning fundraising team Pretty Little Riders.