‘“Particularly exciting is Sam Feder’s new film that follows Chase Strangio, the ACLU lawyer who went to the Supreme Court for litigation this year,” Ash Hoyle said. “It’s just one of many really prescient, urgent films that are in the festival this year. Really grateful for Sam’s voice in the program and being able to really meet the moment that we’re in in the U.S. this year.”‘

‘Arguments Against Trans Rights Are Eviscerated in Timely Legal Documentary…. “Disclosure” — filmmaker [Sam] Feder forms another compelling argument against trans bias, albeit one that’s immediacy proves far more dire… Heightened Scrutiny succeeds in its mission of educating a public whose minds have been corrupted by the weaving of fictions presented as truth… Justice Sonia Sotomayor, one of the Democrat-appointed members of bench, references figures from articles that have no basis in fact and which are easily disputed by Strangio, once again pointing to media as a permeating part of our culture... In watching Strangio’s everyday life, we get a sense for what it must feel like to be a transgender citizen in America today, not just in terms of the pressure he’s under to prove his worth, but in the constant battle to be viewed as a human being rather than some mistake in need of protection from people who aren’t even willing to engage with them...‘

‘Hard-hitting documentary takes aim at anti-trans rhetoric “There’s a direct link to how our lives are discussed in the media and the formation of laws,” says Strangio in the film, which also includes an example from the Guardian. ... The film also connects the arguments put forth for the bans – “looking out” for the children, concern over the difficult road ahead and what is the “best” environment for a child – to the logic underpinning bans on interracial marriage, which the supreme court overturned in 1967...The film, Strangio added, is “a reminder that we can resist, and it’s a reminder that we have a role to play in being critical thinkers about the information that we’re absorbing every day”.‘

‘…An immense amount of care and detail goes into its construction…packing a powerful punch... “Heightened Scrutiny” isn’t just concerned with specific legalese. Feder seems aware that what determines such a ruling is much larger than constitutional language, and he therefore takes aim at the media building blocks of anti-transgender prejudice...Its arguments are as academic as they are emotional...You could throw a penny blindfolded and have it land on a documentary that employs fleeting expert testimonials; where Feder’s movie stands apart is that none of its interviewees are mere talking heads… Rather, they become full-fledged, fully-formed characters in and of themselves, whose inner lives are the focus as much as their expertise…Beyond all the legal and even medical specifics resides a sense of communal understanding, and — at the risk of sounding mawkish — a deep and abiding love for one’s fellow human beings, which Feder taps into with aplomb.‘