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Who's on Top? (2021)

OFFICIAL INSTAGRAM PAGE

Genre: Documentary, LGBTQ, Mountaineering

Duration: Feature Length, 77 minutes

“Who’s on Top?” (narrated by George Takei) is the emotional story of members of the LGBTQ community who challenge stereotypes about gender and sexuality and demonstrate their diverse journeys in overcoming physical and figurative mountains.

film festival screenings

2020 CINEMA DIVERSE: THE PALM SPRINGS LGBTQ FILM FESTIVAL: OFFICIAL SELECTION

2020 TAMPA BAY INTERNATIONAL GAY & LESBIAN FILM FESTIVAL: OFFICIAL SELECTION

2020 REEL AFFIRMATIONS: WASHINGTON DC'S INTERNATIONAL LGBTQ FILM FESTIVAL: OFFICIAL SELECTION

2020 kendal mountain festival: official selection

2021 DURANGO INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL: OFFICIAL SELECTION

2021 PORTLAND INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL: OFFICIAL SELECTION

2021 klamath independent FILM FESTIVAL: jury grand prize northern (oregon) feature film

2021 Portland EcoFilm Festival: Official Selection

Distributors

film hub, pbs north carolina, Collective Eye, Allied Vaughn


MEDIA/PRESS MENTIONS

SOCIAL MEDIA MENTIONS

Other screening Events

  • Mazamas: 12.06.2023

  • Multnomah Athletic Club: 06.15.2023

  • Western University: 01.09.2023

  • Lebanon Pride: 06.18.2022

  • OUT Central Oregon WinterFest Pride: 03.03.2022

  • St. Lawrence University: 03.03.2022

  • Mercer: 06.23.2021

  • Prosper Portland: 06.22.2021

  • VMware: 06.15.2021 + 06.21.2021

  • RSM US LLP: 06.17.2021 + 06.18.2021

  • The Learning Council: 06.07.2021

  • Meyer / Reed “Thirsday”: 03.18.2021

  • Bonneville Power: 09.14.2020

  • Hillsboro Cultural Exploration Lecture Series: 06.11.2019


narrator

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George takei

George Takei is best known for his portrayal of Mr. Sulu in the acclaimed television and film series Star Trek. He's an actor, social justice activist, social media mega-power, New York Times bestselling author, originated the role of Sam Kimura and Ojii-Chan in the Broadway musical Allegiance, and subject of To Be Takei, a documentary on his life and career.

In 2015, Cosmopolitan Magazine named Takei "One of the Internet's 50 Most Fascinating People."

Takei and his husband, Brad, were married at the Japanese American National Museum on September 14, 2008. The Takeis reside in Los Angeles, California.


CAST

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Taylor Feldman

Hailing from the Midwest, this Chicago-born queer traded in skyscrapers for cedar trees in 2008 and wasted no time exploring all the Pacific Northwest has to offer. Taylor’s passion for the mountains fills both her work and her play. She is the Outdoor Programs Manager and Lead Guide for the Mount St. Helens Institute, and a volunteer climb leader for Post 58. She has led teams up more than 40 peaks, ranging from Chilean Patagonia to the North Cascades, including seven first ascents in the Canadian Selkirks. When she isn’t climbing, she can be found tearing up the dance floors of blues, swing, and salsa clubs, or cooking in her Portland home. Taylor is most excited when she is leading others and showcasing the glory of the backcountry, and she is excited to share her mountaineering experience with the cast and crew of Who's On Top?

 
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Shanita King

Shanita  is an intuitive artist with a passion and focus in healing arts, energy medicine, yoga, and nature. She uses visual art as a meditative practice for deep healing, spirituality and divine play. With family roots in South Carolina, Shanita grew up spending quality time in the garden, climbing trees, playing in the ocean, drawing flowers and beautiful landscapes, and going on outdoor bike adventures until sunset. This connection and relationship with nature which began in childhood has continued to deepen and expand to new levels. Shanita believes that by deepening an understanding of the root cause of the issues plaguing our environment, she can help bring into fruition fact-based solutions and actions that we can all achieve on a personal, local and global level. As a self-proclaimed “Earth Warrior”, she also believes that her contribution to this dream-come-true project could have a positive impact on her path towards more environmental activism.

 
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Stacey Rice

Stacey Rice is a transgender woman who found her way to Portland, Oregon from the North Carolina mountains a bit over seven years ago. She was recognized in 2016 as a Queer Hero by the Gay and Lesbian Archives of the Pacific NW and is the former Executive Co-Director of Q Center --the largest LGBTQ community center in the Pacific NW. Stacey's heart is filled every time she sits under a big Ponderosa Pine tree in the high desert or wanders the rim of Crater Lake, pondering the Universe. She feels incredibly blessed to call Portland home.

Learn more about Stacey Rice at staceyrice.com.

 
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Ryan Stee

A fourth-generation Oregonian, Ryan was raised on a small farm in a conservative lumber town in Central Oregon. Growing up he raised 4-H cattle, worked on the farm, and was taught the basics of being a “man” from his father and brother. From his mother, he discovered creativity and thoughtfulness. His respite from the rigors of the farm was to spend time in the woods, where life felt normalized and safe.  Ryan has dedicated his career to public service in Urban and Park/Trail planning. Who’s on Top? is an opportunity for Ryan to explore the polar opposites that have shaped his life, find a better understanding of himself, and learn from other participants during the journey to summit the mountain.     

Learn more about Ryan Stee at ryanstee.com.


Crew

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Devin Fei-fan Tau

Director | Producer | Writer

Devin is a gay, Asian-American filmmaker whose storytelling speaks out against the imposed silence he experienced from both his native and adopted cultures since immigrating to the United States as a child four decades ago. Devin received his BS University of California at Berkeley (Business), and an AAS Portland Community College (Video Production).

He's currently on his 3rd career, having first developed his financial and analytic skills in the corporate world, and then explored his eye for fashion and aesthetics in apparel merchandising.

Devin has previously directed and produced 10 short narrative and documentary films. He is currently in pre-production on a upcoming feature narrative, Half Sisters, and a commissioned feature documentary, The Road Home. Through his film production company, No Sunrise Wasted, he and his team also direct and produce corporate and other branded content.

 
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Justin Rapp

Director of Photography

Since 2011, Justin Rapp has worked in many, if not all, of the roles required to create superior videography, including camera operator, drone operator, production sound mixer, 1st and 2nd assistant, time-lapse photographer and more. In addition to these roles, Justin has also been a producer, writer, director, and editor of his own projects. 

Justin's work covers the spectrum from corporate video, web-based advertisements, commercial work, and televised ads. Both locally in Oregon as well as regionally and internationally, Justin served as a crew member on short films, commercials, a nationally televised reality shows, and independent productions. 

 
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Gus McTigue

B Camera Operator | 1st AC

Gus is a commercial and documentary camera operator born in the midwest but raised in the Pacific Northwest. He's no stranger to Mt. Hood, having been snowboarding its slopes since childhood. He plans to use his camera skills as a means of telling the stories of amazing people who inspire others to live to their fullest potential.

A hockey player, a devout reader, and aspiring model, Gus seeks to push himself in every endeavor he takes on. Growth is what he hopes to see from climbing the mountain, both as a person and as a member of an amazing community of peers. 

 
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Silvia V. Guevara

Photographer

As an Ecuadorian-American immigrant Silvia studied business and accounting in college, and has now finally caught up to her childhood dream of becoming a professional photographer.

She is grateful for her photography instructors at Portland Community College and for her friends who have helped her continue to grow as an artist.

 
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margaret liLY andres

Editor | Writer

Margaret is a multi-Emmy Award winning motion picture editor based in Portland, Oregon.

She got her start in editing in the late 1990s, on a series of documentary shorts for the BBC. Since then Margaret has worked on major motion pictures (Coraline [2009], Ratatouille [2007], Surf's Up [2007]) to documentary television (OPB's Oregon Art Beat, Oregon Field Guide, and Original Fare series') to independent shorts, commercials and music videos.


this film is made possible thanks to the generous support from:

financial sponsors

Fiscal sponsor

 

DONOR ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

zig zag LEVEL

  • Megan Foster

  • Sophie-Shifra Gold


Government camp LEVEL

  • Mariko Corella

  • Phillip Ershler

  • Terrance Heath

  • William Keenan

  • Jacqi Tull

  • Mike J. Vaughn

Salmon River camp LEVEL

  • Anonymous

  • Lili Kim

  • Zach Osterhout

  • Darlene Pelzel

  • Randolph Sellars

  • PJ Simmons

timbERLINE LODGE LEVEL

  • Anonymous

  • Shawn Baeschlin

  • Alvin Choy

  • Jennifer D’Avanzo

  • Brad Fields

  • Nathan Holden

  • Debra Kemp

  • Daniel Kneip

  • James Olson

  • Bethany Parra

  • Michael Poulos

  • Barbara Riney

  • Jonathan P. Streeter

  • Benjamin and Alma Tau

  • Kathryn Turkiewicz

  • Dr. Joan Susie Woo

HOGSBACK DONOR LEVEL

  • Bronwen Jewelry

  • Terri Chiu and Jeffrey Livingston

  • Alison Gross

  • Darrell Kundel

  • Dennis Marshall and Wallace Lee

old chute donor level

  • Karman Ko-Hauser

  • Aaron Kelly Myers

  • Bobbie Regan

Summit donor level

  • Sandra Henriksen


additional in-kind sponsors

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