User:Jdocs/Graham Kolbeins

Graham Kolbeins is a Canadian filmmaker, writer, and fashion designer.

Background
Kolbeins' documentary films have focused on themes of LGBTQ art and activism, including the web series ​Rad Queers ​ and the documentary short film ​The House of Gay Art​. As co-founder and creative director of the brand MASSIVE GOODS Kolbeins and collaborator ​Anne Ishii​ worked with Japanese artists including gay manga artist ​Gengoroh Tagame​ and feminist artist Rokudenashiko​ to produce English translations of their work as well as fashion collections for brands including ​Opening Ceremony and ​Mishka.

Films
The ​Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission ​named Kolbeins a recipient of their Creative Artists Exchange Fellowship in 2016, and he subsequently spent five months filming a feature documentary about sexuality and gender identity in Japan titled ​Queer Japan. Currently in post-production, the film features a variety of artists, activists, dancers, drag queens, and everyday persons. The cast includes ​Gengoroh Tagame​, drag queen and artist Vivienne Sato, transgender politician ​Aya Kamikawa, and photographer​ Leslie Kee. Kolbeins’ short-form work includes ​Rad Queer​s, a series of documentary profiles on artists and activists; as well as collaborations with artist ​Rafa Esparza, musician ​Dorian Wood , writer Beau Rice , and the magazine​ New American Paintings​. He also created a found footage experimental short ​Food Horror​ which explored stigma towards eating embedded with the teen television drama ​Pretty Little Liars.

Books
Along with ​Chip Kidd​ and ​Anne Ishii​, Kolbeins is the co-editor of two books on Japanese gay art: The Passion of Gengoroh Tagame​​  and​ Fantagraphics​’​  anthology, ​Massive: Gay Erotic Manga and the Men Who Make It​  , which was nominated for an Eisner​ award in 2015. The team also collaborated on ​Koyama Press’ English-language edition of ​What Is Obscenity?​, a graphic memoir by the artist Rokudenashiko chronicling her arrest on obscenity charges for making 3D printed vagina art, which was nominated for a Los Angeles Times Book Award