By Noma Faingold (June 13, 2025)
Prolific, award-winning independent film producer Marc Smolowitz has more than 60 credits in his three-decade career. He’s raised at least $30 million for projects in every genre. At any given time, he is the driving force behind 10 films in various stages of production, including at this very moment.
Photo by Noma Faingold
He doesn’t shy away from declaring why he’s had consistent success and longevity in the ever-changing indie film industry. “I’m fearless and relentless,” Smolowitz said. “I know how to do this job very, very well.”
At the Oasis nightclub in May, just before the press conference/reception was about to start, to announce the line-up for Frameline49 (June 18-28), the largest and longest running LGBTQ film festival in the world, Smolowitz looked in his element, seamlessly pivoting from quick greetings to more substantial conversations. Even though the dance music was loud and the lighting was a bit disorienting (while just outside, it was still daylight), Smolowitz was animated, yet focused, as he worked the room.
“Every producer wants every film they’re involved in to be a huge success. My job is to always put in that effort and really help the films land beautifully in the market,” he said. “I use these festival appearances and placements to really drive awareness among the buyers, the audience and the press. I understand how to activate all three of those.”
Smolowitz is particularly effective in financing films. “I’ve been good on the fundraising side of my business by maintaining good relationships and bringing good projects to people,” he said. “But it’s not for the faint of heart. It’s the hardest part of the job and takes a lot of resilience. It’s like I’m constantly on a treadmill. I have to pace myself. There’s not a day when I’m not fundraising for something.”
He’s had 27 films programmed in Frameline, including two this year:
- Outerlands, about a non-binary character navigating an outsider’s life economically and geographically. It was filmed mostly in San Francisco’s Outer Richmond and Outer Sunset Districts, including two pivotal scenes at Ocean Beach. It had its world premiere at SXSW in March and has been a film festival darling all season. “We’re aiming at a wider release in November,” Smolowitz said. “We’re hoping to have a distribution partner soon.”
Sasha Velour and Miss Peppermint
- The world premiere of A Deeper Love: The Story of Miss Peppermint, an intimate documentary following the past eight years in the life of the first openly trans contestant on Ru Paul’s Drag Race, (runner-up in Season 9), who has carved out a career full of firsts, as well as setbacks.
Smolowitz, 56, could have stayed in Los Angeles, where he grew up or returned to New York, where he was born. Instead, he’s proudly made San Francisco his home and part of his brand. “I definitely landed in the right place and in the right career,” he said. “I kind of see myself as a bridge-builder between San Francisco and the rest of the world,” he said. “But I still carve out space for local films.”
He moved here immediately after earning a degree in film from UC Santa Cruz in 1990. Smolowitz, who has also directed a few films, decided on a career in the industry, once he completed his first film class. “It was so eye opening. The idea that you could watch movies and they were more than just stories,” he said. “They were windows into a world of ideas, politics, culture and ideologies.”
He often visited friends in San Francisco while at UCSC. “I would come up Highway 1 and go right to Clement Street, where my friends and I would eat at some of those awesome dim sum places,” he said. “That was my first San Francisco experience. It’s a very sweet memory.”
While Outerlands was shooting in the spring of 2024, Smolowitz periodically brought the location crew dim sum from familiar avenue restaurants.
Smolowitz’s company is called 13th Gen. It’s a two-person operation (with occasional freelance help), run out of the Excelsior home he shares with his husband of 11 years, Yves Averous. Of course, every film they work on has a team and office space is rented. “I wake up every morning and I look at my roster of films and filmmakers. I do a mental check-in with every project and ask myself what teams need something today,” he said.
He is devoted to every project 13th Gen takes on. Some local filmmakers have become close friends, like Marcia Jarmel and husband Ken Schneider. They collaborated on documentaries, Los Hermanos/The Brothers (2020), Havana Curveball (2014) and Speaking In Tongues (2009).
“The way I describe 13th Gen is that we are genre agnostic and filmmaker focused,” Smolowitz said. “It doesn’t matter to me what kind of film we’re making. The genre is less the priority than the filmmakers themselves. I’m interested in supporting talent. When you look at the movies we’ve made, they’re a mixture of documentary, narratives, shorts, experimental and a lot of LGBTQ stuff.”
Smolowitz takes on a mentor role with young, emerging directors. “These films are like children I’m raising. I want to do right by these filmmakers,” he said.
While there is subject diversity in his portfolio, he has become known as a champion of LGBTQ projects. He was approached by writer/director Oriel Pe’er to produce A Deeper Love, because Smolowitz had produced Being Bebe: The Bebe Zahara Benet Documentary in 2021. Benet, originally from the homophobic Cameroon, was the first “Drag Race” winner.
Oriel Pe’er had been following Miss Peppermint on camera for eight years, capturing several private moments, including filming in the surgery room where she was getting breast implants and candid scenes in her tiny, dilapidated Harlem department, where she talks about all the sacrifices that she’s made to avoid sex work in raising money for her transition.
A Deeper Love captures Miss Peppermint’s messy, yet courageous journey of living as a trans performer before, during and after her “Drag Race” breakthrough. She was the first openly trans woman to land a principal role on Broadway in The Go-Go’s jukebox musical, Head Over Heels and currently can be seen in the Netflix comedy series, Survival of the Thickest.
“She’s always had star power. She has the grit and the determination to take these opportunities and turn them into even more,” Smolowitz said. “Nothing is handed to trans people easily in this country. She is an extremely brave and consequential person in the trans movement. She’s really outspoken. She’s an activist. She knows how to use her platform for the betterment of our community.”
In the current anti-trans political climate, Smolowitz said it’s more important than ever to tell stories like Outerlands and A Deeper Love.
“It is not lost on me that while we’ve been making the Miss Peppermint film there’s been all these anti-drag bans in red states, outlawing drag, which is ridiculous,” he said. “With attacks on trans people, it’s hugely important to be supporting good trans stories, which is another reason I’m proud of Outerlands. With everything I do that fits in this kind of profile, I see an opportunity to have a positive impact with these stories and remind people of the humanity of everyone.”
Asia Kate Dillon as Cass in Outerlands
“It fills my soul to help these movies come to light,” he said. “This is my activism.”
Visit Marc’s 13th GEN website.
A Deeper Love: The Story of Miss Peppermint website
The world premiere of the documentary A Deeper Love: The Story of Miss Peppermint will be screened on June 26 at 8:30 p.m., at San Francisco’s Herbst Theatre, 401 Van Ness Ave., during the Frameline49 Film Festival, June 18-28, at various Bay Area venues. Expected guests: producer Marc Smolowitz, director Oriel Pe’er and Miss Peppermint (who will also perform). Information: https://www.frameline.org/festival.
Outerlands website
Read Noma Faingold’s interview with director Elena Oxman.
Outerlands will be screened at the Rafael Film Center on June 13 at 7 p.m., during a pre-Frameline49 Film Festival showcase, hosted by the California Film Institute (CAFILM), bringing Frameline49 to the North Bay, June 13-15, one week before Frameline49. Expected guests: writer/director Elena Oxman, producer Marc Smolowitz and actor Asia Kate Dillon, among others. For more information: Frameline.
Additional screenings of Outerlands have been added to the Frameline49 lineup on June 22, 6 p.m. at the New Parkway Theater, 474 24th St., Oakland and on June 27, 12:45 p.m. at San Francisco’s Vogue Theatre, 3290 Sacramento St.
Noma Faingold is a writer and photographer who lives in Noe Valley. A native San Franciscan who grew up in the Sunset District, Faingold is a frequent contributor to the Richmond Review and Sunset Beacon newspapers, among others. She is obsessed with pop culture and the arts, especially film, theater and fashion. Noma has written about Tamara de Łempicka and singer/songwriters Janis Joplin, Diane Warren and Linda Smith for EatDrinkFilms.
eatdrinkfilms.com 