Phoebe Legere is a filmmaker, composer, and multimedia artist blending animation, avant-garde cinema, and bold social commentary. A cult film star and Juilliard-trained musician, Legere's work spans punk, experimental electronica, visual art and cinema, with a fearless, genre-defying style rooted in New York’s underground art scene.

LA/Toronto LGBTQ+- WINNER Best Story

Paris Film Awards GOLD WINNER Best Indie Short

Berlin Women Cinema Festival Best Narrative Short Nominee

Cannes Arts Fest  WINNER Best Art Film 

London Movie Awards  Nominee

NYC Independent Film Festival  WINNER Best Soundtrack

Cineplay International Film Festival  WINNER  Best Experimental Film

Miami Women Film Festival  WINNER Best Experimental 

East Village Film Festival Official Selection 

Indie Short Fest   WINNER Best Woman Short

Rome Film Festival - Nominee

Hollywood Storyteller Festival - Finalist

Lower East Side Festival of the Arts - NY Premier May 24, 2025

San Francisco Art House Festival - Award

LGBATQ UnBordered Festival - Award

Gender Symphony follows enslaved person Columbina (Phoebe Legere) as she toils under ​Dr. Pants -(Ivan Galietti) -a boss ​who is obsessed with getting rich. Pants discovers ​an incantation he believes will “make him a rich man.” In a bizarre plot twist, the spell summons not gold, but a feminist witch​. Columbina sips the potion and “becomes a rich man.”Emboldened by their new male privilege, Columbino challenges Dr. Pants to a duel that will change both of their lives in unexpected ways. What follows is a seriously funny exploration of identity, power, and transformation.

Hand-drawn animation, lush original music, and striking costume design by Phoebe Legere elevate this magical tale, while a stellar cast led by Ivan Galietti (Fellini's Casanova) rising star Lorenzo Pozzan (Queer, 2024) and Phoebe Legere, (star of Toxic Avenger, Mondo New York, Marquis de Slime, Sounds of Paradise (2022), Everybody Dies Trying to Make a Masterpiece (2023) bring the Gender Symphony to life with wit and flair. The Gender Symphony is a playful, poignant, and deeply human exploration of growth, understanding, and the unpredictable alchemy of self-discovery. Using costumes crafted from
paper and garbage,, commedia dell'arte archetypes, and an award winning film score that weaves hard core rock, experimental electronica and Felliniesque Circus music.
(Italian and English, with original songs in German, French and Spanish)

***The Gender Symphony (Subtitles Français) at VIMEO***
Français = https://vimeo.com/1016242462

Director Biography - Phoebe Hemenway Legere

Phoebe Legere: Writer, Director, Creator, Animator
Phoebe Legere is an internationally recognized filmmaker, composer, and transdisciplinary artist whose groundbreaking work spans film, music, and multimedia performance. As a director and animator, Legere’s style is rooted in the avant-garde underground cinema movement of New York City, where they honed their craft among legends like Rosa von Praunheim, Jack Smith, and Terry Southern (Dr. Strangelove, Candy, Barbarella). Formative friendships in the vibrant Super 8 No Wave scene shaped Legere’s fearless approach to filmmaking, marked by an ingenious blend of high art, black humor, and social commentary.
At just 17 years old, Legere became the resident composer and actor for the radical and boundary-pushing Wooster Group, working daily with ensemble members like Willem Dafoe and Spalding Gray. This early experience with one of New York’s most innovative theater companies cemented Legere's deep connection to interdisciplinary art, collaboration, and creative experimentation, which continues to influence their work today.
Legere’s filmmaking journey also began at 17, making films on the streets of New York City, where they immersed themself in the underground film scene alongside visionaries such as Nick Zedd, Richard Kern, Nelson Sullivan, and Ela Troyano. Later, as an Artist in Residence at the School of Visual Arts, Legere studied installation art under the pioneering Perry Hoberman, and animation. Legere holds a degree in Art from Vassar College, where their thesis focused on Performance Art.
Legere’s award-winning film The Shamancycle Story, about a giant eagle-shaped vehicle they made from upcycled materials, earned the Audience Choice Award at the Allentown Film Festival, exemplifying Legere’s commitment to sustainability and visual innovation.
A seminal figure in the East Village Renaissance, Legere is internationally recognized for their contributions to transdisciplinary art. Legere has written and directed seven full-length multimedia plays, including Queen of New England—which addresses the New England Native American Holocaust—and Hello Mrs. President, which imagines the first Black woman President of the United States. Legere’s films within these plays, such as Sapphic Dream, have garnered a cult following for their bold explorations of identity, power, and transformation.
Legere also wrote Marquis de Slime, a film produced by Canal+ about a female wrestler and musician who slays monsters that abuse women. The film, which blends action, horror, animation, and social commentary, has aired multiple times on French television and continues to resonate with audiences for its powerful feminist narrative.
Legere studied with multidisciplinary video pioneer Larry Rivers and screenwriting legend Terry Southern, and collaborated with Hunter S. Thompson on their film The Bull Wedding. A Juilliard-trained composer and conductor, Legere also holds a Master's degree in Film Scoring from NYU, where they studied with Ira Newborn and electronic music with Morton Subotnick. Legere has produced and directed all of their own music videos, notably Trust Me, which premiered at the Lower East Side Film Festival and influenced a generation of fast-cutting music videos.
As an actor, Legere has appeared in several cult classics, including Germans Taste the Best by Rosa von Praunheim, Mondo New York, and Toxic Avenger.
With a career that transcends boundaries, Phoebe Legere continues to push the limits of art and cinema, merging disciplines to create work that is both wildly innovative and deeply human.

Director Statement

My transdisciplinary sculptural cinema operates in the space between painting, drawing, feminism, installation, spirituality, performance, and environmental science. My art emerges from my two-spirit Native American heritage and history as a survivor of violent sexual abuse. I mix traditional art and storytelling techniques with upcycled and repurposed materials. My film art is an experimental laboratory for social and personal transformation.
To my tribe, the Abenaki, water is alive. The characteristic movements of water are the basis for our iconography. As a two-spirit Abenaki filmmaker, my lens is shaped by a desire to explore the beauty of fluidity—whether in gender, sexuality, or form. I seek to create filmic experiences where queer community joy, pain, resilience, and intimacy are ritualized and celebrated.