Jenni Olson (born October 6, 1962) is a writer, archivist, historian, consultant, and non-fiction filmmaker based in Berkeley, California. She co-founded the pioneering LGBT website PlanetOut.com. Her two feature-length essay films — '' The Joy of Life (2005)'' and '' The Royal Road (2015)'' — premiered at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

. Her work as an experimental filmmaker and her expansive personal collection of LGBTQ film prints and memorabilia were acquired in April 2020 by the Harvard Film Archive, and her reflection on the last 30 years of LGBT film history was published as a chapter in ''The Oxford Handbook of Queer Cinema'' from

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

in 2021. In 2020, she was named to the

Out Magazine ''Out'' is an American LGBTQ news, fashion, entertainment, and lifestyle magazine, with the highest circulation of any LGBTQ monthly publication in the United States. ''Out'' was owned by Robert Hardman of Boston, its original investor, until 2 ...

Out 100 list. In 2021, she was recognized with the prestigious Special TEDDY Award at the

Berlin Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...

. She also campaigned to have a barrier erected on the Golden Gate Bridge to prevent suicides.

Biography

Olson was born and raised in

Falcon Heights, Minnesota Falcon Heights is a suburb of Saint Paul, Minnesota, Saint Paul and a city in Ramsey County, Minnesota, Ramsey County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 5,369 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It became a village on Apri ...

and was educated at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

where she earned her degree in Film Studies. In 1986, while still a student, Olson co-founded the Minneapolis/St.Paul Lesbian, Gay, Bi & Transgender Film Festival, initially under the name Lavender Images. Olson was inspired in this move by

Vito Russo Vito Russo (; July 11, 1946 – November 7, 1990) was an American LGBT activist, film historian, and author. He is best remembered as the author of the book '' The Celluloid Closet'' (1981, revised edition 1987), described in ''The New York Ti ...

's book, '' The Celluloid Closet''. In 1992, Olson was hired by the company Frameline and moved to San Francisco to work as guest curator on the San Francisco International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, before being appointed co-director alongside

Mark Finch Mark Finch (21 October 1961 – 14 January 1995) was an English promoter of LGBT cinema. Having founded and expanded several international film festivals he created the first LGBT film market for distributors, sales agents, and independent film ...

. After three years, Olson left this position to co-found the website PlanetOut.com. Olson worked as director of entertainment and e-commerce for the site, as well fulfilling the same roles for

Gay.com Gay.com was a chat, personals, and social networking website catering to the LGBT community. The site was a digital brand of Here Media Inc. In addition to community features, the site featured LGBT-related news and features. As of September 20 ...

. She created the PopcornQ section of the PlanetOut.com website, basing the section on her book ''The Ultimate Guide to Lesbian & Gay Film and Video.'' In 1997, Olson attended the Sundance Festival and arranged, along with

Outfest Outfest is an LGBTQ-oriented nonprofit that produces two film festivals, operates a movie streaming platform, and runs educational services for filmmakers in Los Angeles. Outfest is one of the key partners, alongside the Frameline Film Festival ...

executive director Morgan Rumpf, a small brunch aimed at fellow queer attendees. The event has happened annually since then being co-presented by PlanetOut.com and Outfest until 2005. Since the demise of PlanetOut, it is now presented solely by Outfest. The sponsors described it in 2005 as "the premiere gay and lesbian industry event during Sundance". By March 2005, Olson was named Director of E-Commerce & Consumer Marketing for Wolfe Video/Wolfe Releasing. In 2021, she was recognized with the Special TEDDY Award at the

— for her service to the

LGBTQ LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, Gay men, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning (sexuality and gender), questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, Asexuality, asexual, ...

film community. Olson is currently co-director of The Bressan Project, devoted to restoring and re-releasing the films of pioneering gay filmmaker Arthur J. Bressan Jr. Her work as a film historian includes the

Lambda Literary Award Lambda Literary Awards, also known as the "Lammys", are awarded yearly by Lambda Literary Foundation, Lambda Literary to recognize the crucial role LGBTQ+ writers play in shaping the world. The Lammys celebrate the very best in LGBTQ+ literatur ...

-nominated ''The Queer Movie Poster Book'' and her many vintage movie trailer presentations (''Homo Promo'', ''Afro Promo'', etc.). Jenni's film criticism has appeared in numerous publications including

Filmmaker Magazine ''Filmmaker'' is a quarterly publication magazine covering issues relating to independent film. The magazine was founded in 1992 by Karol Martesko-Fenster, Scott Macaulay and Holly Willis. The magazine is now published by the IFP (Independent Fil ...

The Advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. The Advocate, The Advocates or Advocate may also refer to: Magazines * The Advocate (magazine), ''The Advocate'' (magazine), an LGBT magazine based in the United States * ''The Harvard Advocate' ...

, and the San Francisco Bay Guardian and she is currently a film columnist for

Logo TV Logo TV (often shortened to Logo, and stylized as Logo.) is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Media Networks, a division of Paramount Global. Launched in 2005, Logo was originally dedicated to lifestyle and entertainment progra ...

's NewNowNext. In July 2021, Olson also joined

GLAAD GLAAD () is an American non-governmental media monitoring organization. Originally founded as a protest against defamatory coverage of gay and lesbian demographics and their portrayals in the media and entertainment industries, it has since ...

to lead their Social Media Safety Program.

Career

Olson initially compiled trailers into documentary features, showing ''Homo Promo'', her compilation of vintage gay movie trailers at the Amsterdam Gay & Lesbian Film Festival in 1991, and her work in this area has been recognised as instructional in teaching students contextualisation. She continued compiling trailers throughout the 1990s, with her last such compilation released being ''Bride of Trailer Camp'', released in 2001 (others in the series include: "Trailer Camp", "Neo Homo Promo", "Afro Promo", "Trailers Schmailers"). During this period Olson also wrote ''Ultimate Guide to Lesbian & Gay Film and Video'' (1996). The book was based on Olson's BA thesis. Her next book was ''The Queer Movie Poster Book'' (

Chronicle Books Chronicle Books is a San Francisco–based American publishing company that publishes books for both adults and children. History The company was established in 1967 by Phelps Dewey, an executive with Chronicle Publishing Company, then-publish ...

, 2005). This book was suggested in 1991 by Stuart Marshall, who recommended Olson pitch the idea to London's Gay Men's Press. Although the book was turned down by both them and

Serpent's Tail Serpent's Tail is London-based independent publishing firm founded in 1986 by Pete Ayrton. It specialises in publishing work in translation, particularly European crime fiction. In January 2007, it was bought by a British publisher Profile Book ...

, to whom the idea was pitched as a follow-up to her previous book, Olson was eventually commissioned to write the book in 2002 (published in 2005, it went on to be a

Lambda Literary Awards Lambda Literary Awards, also known as the "Lammys", are awarded yearly by Lambda Literary Foundation, Lambda Literary to recognize the crucial role LGBTQ+ writers play in shaping the world. The Lammys celebrate the very best in LGBTQ+ literatur ...

nominee). Olson based the work in part on her own collection of such material, which she has subsequently donated to San Francisco’s

GLBT Historical Society The GLBT Historical Society (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society) (formerly Gay and Lesbian Historical Society of Northern California; San Francisco Bay Area Gay and Lesbian Historical Society) maintains an extensive collection ...

. Her collection was exhibited at the San Francisco Public Library in 2004, with Olson delivering an accompanying lecture. In 2005, Olson released '' The Joy of Life'', her debut feature, which won Best Outstanding Artistic Achievement at the 2005

and at the 2005 Newfest received Best U.S. Narrative Screenplay, and has been favorably reviewed in a number of publications. It garnered Olson the Marlon Riggs Award by the

San Francisco Film Critics Circle The San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC), formerly known as San Francisco Film Critics Circle, was founded in 2002 as an organization of film journalists and critics from San Francisco, California based publications. Included in it ...

in 2005. Working on the film led Olson to pen an open letter to the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. ...

'' on the matter of the

Golden Gate Bridge The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the strait connecting San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean in California, United States. The structure links San Francisco—the northern tip of the San Francisco Peni ...

's position as the top suicide landmark in the world. Her former colleague, Mark Finch, had jumped from the bridge on January 14, 1995, and Olson used this event to inform her own film. Her letter was published on the tenth anniversary of Finch's death and supported the Psychiatric Foundation of Northern California's launching of a campaign for a barrier to be installed on the bridge. Olson also distributed her film to the bridge's board of directors, noting "several of the bridge directors told me they appreciated seeing the film and found it illuminating", and in March 2005, the board voted to explore the installation of a barrier to prevent jumping. Olson's 2009 short film, ''575 Castro St.'' was shot on the empty Castro Camera store set of the Academy Award-winning drama ''

Milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of lactating mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfeeding, breastfed human infants) before they are able to digestion, digest solid food. ...

''. In 2015, Olson's film, '' The Royal Road'' premiered at the 2015

. In 2019, Olson directed a short film, ''In nomine Patris''. She is currently in development on an

experimental film Experimental film or avant-garde cinema is a mode of filmmaking that does not apply standard cinematic conventions, instead adopting Non-narrative film, non-narrative forms or alternatives to traditional narratives or methods of working. Many e ...

, ''The Quiet World''. Olson's work as an experimental filmmaker and her expansive personal collection of LGBTQ film prints and memorabilia were acquired in April 2020 by the Harvard Film Archive. In 2021 Olson she honored by the

with a Special TEDDY Award for her "decades of bridge-building work with which she has made queer film history visible and tangible… Jenni Olson embodies, lives and creates queer film culture."

Bibliography

* ''Dagger: On Butch Women'' (1995), (contributor) Cleis Press, * ''Cookin’ with Honey'' (1996), (contributor) Cleis Press, * ''Lesbian Words: State of the Art'' (1996), (contributor) Richard Kasak Books, * ''Images in the Dark: An Encyclopedia of Lesbian and Gay Film'' (1996), (contributor) Plume, * ''The Ultimate Guide to Lesbian & Gay Film and Video'' (1996), (editor)

, * ''The Queer Movie Poster Book'' (2004), (author)

, * ''The Queer Encyclopedia of the Visual Arts'' (2006), (contributor) Cleis Press, * ''The Oxford Handbook of Queer Cinema'' (2021), (contributor: "Lavender Images and Poetic Landscapes: My Thirty Years in the Queer Film Ecosystem")

Filmography

* ''Levi’s 501s Commercial'' (1991), experimental video * ''Sometimes'' (1994), experimental video * ''Blow-Up'' (1997), experimental video * ''Blue Diary'' (1998) * ''Meep Meep!'' (2000), experimental video * ''

By Hook or by Crook "By hook or by crook" is an English language, English phrase meaning "by any means necessary", suggesting that any means possible should be taken to accomplish a goal. The phrase was first recorded in the Middle English ''Controversial Tracts'' of ...

'' (2001), consulting producer * ''Sing Along San Francisco'' (2002), producer * ''Matzo Maidels'' (2003) * '' The Joy of Life'' (2005) * ''575 Castro St.'' (2009) * '' The Royal Road'' (2015) * ''AWOL'' (2016), consulting producer * ''The Freedom to Marry'' (2016), producer * ''In nomine Patris'' (2019) * '' Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen'' (2020), consulting producer * ''No Straight Lines: The Rise of Queer Comics'' (2021), consulting producer

Awards and nominations

References

External links

*
Olson's personal website

Olson's journalism archive and website profile

Official site for ''The Joy of Life''

Official site for ''575 Castro St.''

Official site for ''The Royal Road''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Olson, Jenni 1962 births Living people American documentary filmmakers American women experimental filmmakers American women screenwriters American lesbian artists American lesbian writers American LGBTQ film directors Lesbian screenwriters American LGBTQ screenwriters American women documentary filmmakers LGBTQ people from Minnesota Film directors from Minnesota Screenwriters from Minnesota People from Falcon Heights, Minnesota University of Minnesota alumni MacDowell Colony fellows 21st-century American women writers