Film Screening at Packer: Heightened Scrutiny

HEIGHTENED SCRUTINY follows Chase Strangio, ACLU attorney and the first out trans person to argue before the Supreme Court, as he fights a high-stakes legal battle to overturn Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth (United States v. Skrmetti).

The film exposes the dangerous role of mainstream media in fueling anti-trans legislation, uncovering how biased coverage drives hate, endangers lives, and threatens democracy itself. With insights from journalists like Jelani Cobb, Lydia Polgreen, and Gina Chua, and activists like Laverne Cox, the story dismantles anti-trans disinformation and highlights its devastating real-world impact.

With the dangerous SCOTUS decision upholding the ban on life-saving healthcare, HEIGHTENED SCRUTINY is an urgent call to action against bigotry and injustice.

Heightened Scrutiny

Sam Feder created and directed the critically acclaimed films, Heightened Scrutiny (Sundance 2025), DISCLOSURE (Sundance 2020), Kate Bornstein is a Queer and Pleasant Danger (2014), and Boy I Am (2006). Sam’s filmmaking practice centers on exposing silences in order to build solidarity across movements for political, social, and economic justice. Sam’s work has been programmed internationally at festivals, theaters, and museums such as, Sundance Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival, CPH:DOX, Thessaloniki Film Festival, DOCNYC, Sheffield DocFest, DC/DOXS, MOMA-PS1, The Hammer Museum, The Alamo Drafthouse and more. Sam’s film DISCLOSURE, was nominated for a Peabody Award and they were recently invited to be a voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Documentary Branch.

Sam Feder, Director/ Producer, Class of 1993