Frameline Voices' As You Are explores refreshing queer love story with interabled couple

A leader in the queer film space since 1977, Frameline, the organization behind the Frameline Film Festival, has kicked off its 12^th year of amplifying queer short films. Frameline Voices 2024 centers “queer kinship,” and The Advocate has an exclusive clip from director Daisy Friedman’s As You Are.

Friedman’s film is part of a collection of short films curated from the annual festival that will be shown throughout May on Frameline’s website, YouTube channel, and Instagram. In the clip, a queer woman opens up to her girlfriend about how people she’s dated before struggled to fully embrace her.

“Millie, the disabled character, is talking to her girlfriend Piper about the difficulties she's had with past partners who have not accepted her body and loved it because of its disabilities, rather than despite them,” Friedman says.

As You AreCourtesy Frameline

“It also touches on a very important piece that media about disability doesn't often discuss. The way that disabled body is often medicalized by doctors to the point where disabled people feel like doctors own our bodies more than we do. The way that Piper reacts really emphasizes the theme of acceptance that we're trying to show in the film,” Friedman adds. “By saying that Piper wants their relationship to be different than those in Millie's past, she is showing her that she loves Millie's disabled body without any hesitation. This is something we very rarely see in media about disability and queerness as well, honestly. I want the film to set a precedent for disability representation going forward.”

As You Are won the the U.S. Narrative Short Grand Jury Prize Special Mention at Outfest, the Newfest + NYWIFT Emerging Filmmaker Award, and the film earned Friedman the Colin Higgins Youth Foundation Grant at the Frameline Film Festival. Friedman’s “history as a multi-organ transplant recipient has drawn her to create work that centers on the intersections of tradition, intimacy, embodiment, and disability,” according to her website.

Regarding her film, she says, “I want audiences to be able to see a love story they may have never seen on-screen. For the disabled and/or queer people, I want them to be able to feel seen and represented in a way that they may never have before.”

"For all audiences, though, I want people to see that level of kindness and intimacy between two partners to show that it is possible for them,” she adds. “I want people to have a window into a world of disability and interabled relationships that they may never have seen before. I hope audiences come away from the film rethinking the way they think and talk about disabled people, especially as it relates to sex and intimacy.”

As You Are Courtesy Frameline

As You Are is Friedman’s first film, and she’s thrilled, especially as someone who is still an undergraduate, to be included in Frameline Voices’ prestigious program.

“To be honored by Frameline in this way not only gives me confidence that there will be a seat for me at the table in the industry but even more so that there are audiences that are hungry for these stories. Queer stories, disabled stories, and stories of authentic representation,” Friedman says. “This opportunity has given me the resources and community I need to continue doing this work not only for myself but for my communities for as long as they will have me do so.”

Watch the exclusive clip from As You Are below.