By Lucy Spicer
One of the most exciting things about the Sundance Film Festival is having a front-row seat for the bright future of independent filmmaking. While we can learn a lot about the filmmakers from the 2025 Sundance Film Festival through the art that these storytellers share with us, there’s always more we can learn about them as people. We decided to get to the bottom of those artistic wells with our ongoing series: Give Me the Backstory!
“My first time [attending the Sundance Film Festival] was in 2017, right after the inauguration, during a horrendous snowstorm,” recounts Sam Feder. Feder would return to the Festival in 2020 as a filmmaker with Disclosure (originally titled Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen), which premiered on Netflix later that same year. The acclaimed documentary examines the depictions of trans identity in film and television and features insightful commentary from trans creatives and advocates, including Laverne Cox, Lilly Wachowski, Yance Ford, Susan Stryker, and more. In the tumultuous years since Disclosure, trans visibility has increased, but many legal wins for trans rights in the U.S. have been mirrored by steps back in the same sphere.
“Starting in early 2023, people I was working with — who I thought were trans allies — began to raise questions about the rights trans people had won,” says Feder. “I realized they were parroting the mainstream news, which was increasingly questioning trans people’s right to exist.” These are the people Feder wants to reach with the new documentary Heightened Scrutiny, which is screening in the Premieres section at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Heightened Scrutiny follows American Civil Liberties Union lawyer and activist Chase Strangio as he grapples with the recent increase in anti-trans legislation in the U.S. “I want Heightened Scrutiny to premiere at [the Sundance Film Festival] in order to reach the allies we have lost,” explains Feder.
Read on to hear more from Feder, including the biggest challenge that came with making Heightened Scrutiny and what kind of legacy the filmmaker hopes to leave behind with this urgent documentary.
What was the biggest inspiration behind Heightened Scrutiny?
Witnessing one of the biggest rollbacks of civil rights in modern history.
Films are lasting artistic legacies; what do you want yours to say?
That mainstream media laundered anti-trans, right-wing rhetoric, and that was part of why trans rights have been stripped away.
What was a big challenge you faced while making this Heightened Scrutiny?
Both lawyers and journalists are very distrusting!
Why does this story need to be told now?
Between January and June 2025, [the U.S. Supreme Court] will be determining the future of trans rights. I want to impact the public discourse before the court releases their opinion.
Tell us why and how you got into filmmaking.
Because I’m too introverted to be a public activist.
Which of your personal characteristics contributes most to your success as a storyteller?
Asking questions.
Who was the first person you told when you learned you got into the Sundance Film Festival?
I texted my producer, editor, and assistant editor saying I had a very serious question and asked if they could all get on Zoom ASAP.
