There are at least a few times in “Heightened Scrutiny” where Sam Feder is careful to let an interview play a little longer than expected, not out of any intention to wring extra emotion out of the moment but to see people actually process what they’re feeling in front of the camera when so many of the film’s subjects are carrying around so much.
“It’s really a highly skilled editor that is really able to find that balance,” says Feder, quickly brushing off any credit, though one could see from their previous film “Disclosure” about how the trans experience has been reflected in mass media how participants relished a rare opportunity to offer perspective less as experts than as human beings and the time to gather their thoughts. “I never want to use the close camera. I don’t like that style. And I do you have to earn the trust of your viewer. They have to be invested and then they’re going to go along that ride with you and really see the genuine feeling that that person is experiencing and be there with them, so those moments are placed very intentionally and edited with a lot of care.”
That level of sensitivity and compassion goes a long way in what ended up as an unusual follow-up to “Disclosure,” when “Heightened Scrutiny” picks up almost in a literal way from where Feder’s last film left off when ACLU lawyer Chase Strangio was one of the last to appear on screen to speak and takes center stage here as the lead attorney in the United States Vs. Skrmetti, a Supreme Court case involving the state of Tennessee’s ban of gender-affirming care for minors. Strangio is well aware that it’s a uphill battle with the ultra-conservative court, but Feder finds it’ll be even tougher to make a persuasive case when Strangio is contending with how the issue has already been framed by major media outlets, with Op-Eds from the New York Times and Wall Street Journal now finding their way into legal briefs as fact rather than opinion and shaping discourse with a generally antagonistic attitude towards the trans community.
For a fight that takes place both behind closed doors and in the public sphere, Strangio can be seen sparring on two fronts, preparing to argue in front of the Supreme Court and rallying support at big public events with a host of activists, raising awareness of just what exactly they’re up against as a door that seemed to be cracking open towards greater acceptance before 2020 is swinging hard in the other direction. Not only does Strangio make a passionate advocate for how a decision in the Skrmetti will impact the rights of all Americans, but Feder is able to show the traumatizing effects of having your identity questioned through both a range of tenderly conducted interviews and keeping tabs on Mila, a teenager far wiser than their years who’s at odds with the school they attend when a measure comes up before the board to begin enforcing an anti-trans policy. The disinterest in hearing any arguments from those most affected by the policy as board members can be seen checking their phones during the open forum reflect a present-day reality that seems impenetrable, but “Heightened Scrutiny” is able to break through when expressing the real human stakes involved at every turn.
When Feder really wants to touch people with the film, “Heightened Scrutiny” has set about a theatrical tour following its premiere at Sundance earlier this year where most screenings are accompanied by a Q & A with the director and producer Amy Scholder and as the film makes its way from New York at the DCTV Firehouse to Los Angeles this week en route to San Francisco, we were fortunate enough to catch up with the two to talk about why they realized that “Disclosure” would need a follow-up even while making it, seeing the case of U.S. Vs. Skrmetti as a media story as much as a legal one and where they get the strength to continue in the face of seemingly endless headwinds.
How did this come about?
Sam Feder: The film came about as a direct follow-up to the film that Amy and I made called “Disclosure,” [which] was made to look at the history of trans representation in film and TV so we could better understand the backlash that was inevitably going to follow a very quick rise of visibility of trans people. Only a year after that film came out, did we start to see the backlash really take hold and we wanted to look into ways in which we could speak to that backlash and that’s how “Heightened Scrutiny” came to be.
The announcement that SCOTUS would be hearing the case [“United States v. Skrmetti”], came a year after we started making the film. We did research and then a bunch of interviews in March of 2024. The film was really looking at the ways in which the mainstream media and the narratives that they had created were really leading to material harm to trans people and how the way that mainstream media went from part of that celebration around visibility to then being part of creating skepticism around trans people’s lives. That’s the lens in which “Disclosure” was made and that was certainly the way I found my in into this story, thinking a lot about what could I say to this moment? What could I do that would be of use.
Chase was part of those interviews we did in March of 2024. But then when it was announced at the end of June of 2024 that SCOTUS would be hearing the case, then we started following Chase.
Amy, is this an entirely different kind of production? “Disclosure” was mostly sit-down interviews rather than tracking an ongoing concern.
Amy Scholder: It was a very different kind of production and posed a lot of different challenges and really gave us an opportunity to tell stories in a way that was creative and fun and let us feature the lives of people who we admire and respect and wanted to spotlight.
Someone you may not have known before the production, but becomes deeply admirable is Mila, the student who proves to be so inspirational fighting for her rights at the Clinton School.
Sam Feder: I did not know Mila before that day that I filmed her at the Clinton School. In fact, Mila sought me out that day. She saw me approaching the school and I had a camera person because I had been going to these meetings already. I went without a camera the first couple of times and I realized I really needed to document what was happening. This was before we were following Chase in early spring of 2024, and the day I went to film at Clinton School, Mila found me through the crowd and told me that I had her permission to film her. I wasn’t sure why or what was going to happen that day, so I met Mila the way you all meet Mila when you watch the film. She got up and spoke and then she spoke again and she just blew me away for so many reasons on so many levels. Then it was over many months of figuring out sort of our boundaries and ethics and how we would incorporate the voice of a young person. But Mila was the perfect fit.
That scene shows a real awareness of what’s happening in the room when you get to see the board members at the Clinton School checking their phones rather than listening to the speakers and then catches her reaction to it. What was it like being there in the moment?
Sam Feder: My director of photography, Martin DiCicco is wonderful at what he does and one of the best DPs I’ve worked with. We were just in constant communication that day and getting all the coverage we needed and in that moment he and I were standing together, just going back and forth and capturing what was happening. The tension in the room was not lost on anyone and he just did a remarkable job.
How did you want to actually engage narratively with the legal process or the case of “United States v. Skrmetti” specifically when it’s really representative of something larger?
Sam Feder: We’re storytellers and getting into legalese is not necessarily accessible to people, so we went into detail parts of the case that were critical to understand the consequences and also to understand Chase’s preparation and the direct relationship between what is perpetuated and sometimes manufactured in the media and how trans bodies become criminalized. But the impetus for making the film was to try to understand and to show that the culture had gone from this interest and maybe celebration and acceptance of trans people as more and more trans people were in the spotlight to [a feeling] “Well, how did we pivot as a culture from this rise of visibility and seemingly acceptance to this hard right?” We looked at the media and saw that the framing of trans coverage was so biased and so full of misinformation so often that people who trust those sources for their information were really being deeply influenced. That disinformation was also winding up in legal briefs and literally impacting the ability for trans people to exercise their full human and civil rights in this country.
From what I understand, this film has already been suggested for use in court as well to combat such misinformation.
Sam Feder: Yeah, my work is informed by my activist concerns, so I always want my work to be used as a tool and we’ve thought about that from the beginning, like who could this be of use to and how could it be of use? That was always part of the DNA of the film.
Even knowing the results, it’s a crushing moment in the film when Chase has intel from an internal source with the Harris campaign that it’s likely there will be a second Trump administration. What was it like to be in the room for that ahead of the election?
Sam Feder: Yeah, I remember that moment so vividly, and it was always a small crew and we’re in a small space. That expression you see on Peppermint’s face, there’s like an audible “uh…” from everyone and that was the crew included. It was not a surprise, but devastating to hear, and every beat of that cycle I think felt that way. The closer we got, we knew we had a sense of what was coming, but then when it came, it just still just kicks you, so it was rough.
Was there anything that happened that changed your ideas of what this could be?
Amy Scholder: The last six months happened so quickly because we had started making a movie about the media and knew that along the way we were going to need to find stories and show the material consequences through the lives of trans characters that would become part of this film, but we didn’t know what those would be. Then once the focus became both the preparation for the Supreme Court case and also getting to know Mila, this 13-year-old trans kid who comes from this wonderful family and has a connection to Chase, then in certain ways, it took a life of its own.
But as we’re making the film concurrent with the election ramp up, what we saw was this enormous attack on trans people being resourced with millions and millions and millions of dollars by the Republican Party to call us around an issue that impacted so few people, except trans people in such a devastating way and provoked so much hate for really no apparent reason except for the right wing to coalesce around something. We were really propelled by that as much as by everything else dictating the story arc of the film to get it done and get it out into the world.
Was it much of a decision to wrap the film before a decision came in “United States v. Skrmetti”? It was obviously the right one since you’re able to have this reaction out now right when the decision was recently handed down, but unusual when it’s central to the film.
Amy Scholder: Yeah, we never considered waiting for multiple reasons. This is a story about Skrmetti and it is a story about the media and media criticism and media literacy. But we also wanted to use our film to draw more and more attention to the case, to reach more audiences and just to continue working alongside Chase and the work that he’s doing to reach people so they would be informed and ready for when the opinion would be dropped.
Sam Feder: We always wanted the film to be a tool, and something we said the end of last year was, “At least we’re going into 2025 with a tool we hope to be of use,” so here we are. And we’re running with it. We’re trying to make it as accessible to as many people who need to see it and who could use it as possible.
Amy Scholder: It feels like quicksand in a lot of ways. Things have happened so fast and all I can do, at least to get myself up in the morning is to feel like I’m somewhat useful. And that usefulness hopefully is bringing the film to youth camps and schools and art theaters where people think they’re going to come see something entertaining, and then walk out actually being smarter and engaged with an issue that maybe they didn’t know they could feel so close to.
Sam Feder: We have an impact campaign that usually you wait a year after your film’s been out to have. Ours came immediately. And we’re working with an incredible impact producer Julia Allen and team and we’re bringing the film to the states that have the most impending bills at this time. We go from state to state and working with organizers, so that’s our focus, especially since the [Skrmetti] decision came out on June 18th. We haven’t stopped. But it’s very meaningful work.
“Heightened Scrutiny” opens on July 18th in New York at the DCTV Firehouse, Los Angeles on July 26th at the NoHo 7, July 27th at the Monica Film Center and July 29th at the Laemmle Glendale and in San Francisco on July 31st at the Roxie Theatre.