buy a festival badge | schedule | volunteer | theme | artists | our mission
Sister Spit
Michelle Tea
Sini AndersonCreated by Sini Anderson and Michelle Tea, Sister Spit began as an all-girl, trans-inclusive weekly open mic in 1994 in San Francisco. The San Francisco Bay Guardian named it 'Best Place to Hear Silver-Tongued She-Devils.' It hosted writers such as Eileen Myles, Mary Gaitskil, Cooper Lee Bombardier, Bambi Lake and many, many more. In 1997, Sister Spit hit the road for the very first time, bringing two van fulls of literary artists across the US and into Canada for one solid month. Sister Spit has existed in many forms since that time, with Michelle Tea managing some tours on her own before passing it off to Julian Delgado Lopera, who passed it off to Imani Sims, who passed it off to Mason J., who passed it back to Sini and Michelle just in time for the 25th anniversary of the tour's maiden voyage. In 2022/2023 Sister Spit has hit both coasts of the US, bringing along old and new queer and feminist writers such as Beth Lisick, Kamala Puligandla, Lynnee Breedlove, Julian Delgado Lopera, Vera Blossom, Cristy C. Road, Mya Spalter and others.
Michelle Tea is the author of over a dozen books, most recently Knocking Myself Up. She is the recipient of honors from PEN/America, the Guggenheim Foundation, Lambda Literary, the Rona Jaffe Foundation, and the California Library Association. She is the creator of Drag Queen Story Hour, the literary imprints Sister Spit Books (City Lights Publisher) and Amethyst Editions (The Feminist Press), and for 13 years acted as Founding Executive Director of RADAR Productions. She is producer and host of the Your Magic and Ask the Tarot podcasts.
Sini Anderson is an award-winning film director, producer, and feminist artist & class activist. Her first feature film , The Punk Singer, a documentary about Kathleen Hanna premiered at SXSW (South by Southwest) and was acquired by IFC Films. It was theatrically The film has won numerous Awards and received a theatrical release in 121 American cities and has screened in more than 30 counties.
In 2018 Sini was commissioned by LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) to direct and premiere a documentary short about American Photographer, Catherine Opie at the annual ART|FILM Gala. Catherine Opie b. 1961 then screened at festivals across the country winning HBO’s best documentary short at Provincetown International Film Festival, the Excellence in American Profiles award, at SF Doc Fest, at OutFest Los Angeles the film won the festival wide Vimeo Staff Award.
Andersons current work in-progress, So Sick, is a seven part documentary series that follows women/gender non-conforming folks as they struggle with debilitating illnesses they are told, “don’t exist”. Shot over six years, with over 10 years of the directors self documentation, we witness Anderson’s exhaustive examination of why American medicine continues to refuse and even mocks these conditions they have labeled “mystery illnesses”. So Sick reveals the infuriating truths, incessant gaslighting, and the deceptive actions by biomedical research and medical officials and that ultimately have patients questioning the validity of their own experiences. 85-90% of these patients are women/gender nonconforming and people of color. From ME/CFS to Chronic/Late-stage Lyme+ disease and Long COVID this whistle blower doc is placed at the intersection of art and activism and strives to be a rallying-cry for Chronic Illness communities+ at the exact moment it’s needed most
AND In the mid-90s, Sini Anderson along with Michelle Tea Co-Founded & Co-Directed San Francisco’s legendary Queer Performance Tour, Sister Spit. The duo hauled over 30 brilliant queer performers across the county and back again from 1997 - 2001. It felt like the most incredible queer, punk art school in the universe. Sister Spit was a beautiful fucking mess with so much passion, talent and grit all packed into two vans performing 30 to 40 shows in six weeks across the U.S.A.
Michelle Tea is the author of over a dozen books, most recently Knocking Myself Up. She is the recipient of honors from PEN/America, the Guggenheim Foundation, Lambda Literary, the Rona Jaffe Foundation, and the California Library Association. She is the creator of Drag Queen Story Hour, the literary imprints Sister Spit Books (City Lights Publisher) and Amethyst Editions (The Feminist Press), and for 13 years acted as Founding Executive Director of RADAR Productions. She is producer and host of the Your Magic and Ask the Tarot podcasts.
Sini Anderson is an award-winning film director, producer, and feminist artist & class activist. Her first feature film , The Punk Singer, a documentary about Kathleen Hanna premiered at SXSW (South by Southwest) and was acquired by IFC Films. It was theatrically The film has won numerous Awards and received a theatrical release in 121 American cities and has screened in more than 30 counties.
In 2018 Sini was commissioned by LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) to direct and premiere a documentary short about American Photographer, Catherine Opie at the annual ART|FILM Gala. Catherine Opie b. 1961 then screened at festivals across the country winning HBO’s best documentary short at Provincetown International Film Festival, the Excellence in American Profiles award, at SF Doc Fest, at OutFest Los Angeles the film won the festival wide Vimeo Staff Award.
Andersons current work in-progress, So Sick, is a seven part documentary series that follows women/gender non-conforming folks as they struggle with debilitating illnesses they are told, “don’t exist”. Shot over six years, with over 10 years of the directors self documentation, we witness Anderson’s exhaustive examination of why American medicine continues to refuse and even mocks these conditions they have labeled “mystery illnesses”. So Sick reveals the infuriating truths, incessant gaslighting, and the deceptive actions by biomedical research and medical officials and that ultimately have patients questioning the validity of their own experiences. 85-90% of these patients are women/gender nonconforming and people of color. From ME/CFS to Chronic/Late-stage Lyme+ disease and Long COVID this whistle blower doc is placed at the intersection of art and activism and strives to be a rallying-cry for Chronic Illness communities+ at the exact moment it’s needed most
AND In the mid-90s, Sini Anderson along with Michelle Tea Co-Founded & Co-Directed San Francisco’s legendary Queer Performance Tour, Sister Spit. The duo hauled over 30 brilliant queer performers across the county and back again from 1997 - 2001. It felt like the most incredible queer, punk art school in the universe. Sister Spit was a beautiful fucking mess with so much passion, talent and grit all packed into two vans performing 30 to 40 shows in six weeks across the U.S.A.