By Noma Faingold

“Minister Chucky,” a short documentary film about the unconventional Las Vegas wedding of a queer couple, officiated by a killer doll Chucky impersonator from the eight-installment “Child’s Play” horror movie franchise, is funny until you consider the full context of the celebration – including subsequent plans for the pair to flee the United States under President Donald Trump’s regime.

Filmmakers non-binary Graham Kolbeins and trans man Jonathan Andre Culliton documented their eccentric nuptials, along with their life choices, before and after the festivities. The film highlights love and resistance in times when the LGBTQ+ community is under attack.

“For all of us in the community, humor is a vehicle by which you can showcase something really hard,” producer and Inner Sunset resident Felix Mack said. “Audiences are tired and exhausted and so are we of our stories being painful and heavy. It doesn’t mean there isn’t a place for those. If we can address these things with a sense of humor, it makes people relate to us in a way that is easier.”

The 11-minute film will be screened twice during the Frameline50 Film Festival, which runs from June 17–27. Frameline, which is the oldest and largest LGBTQ+ film festival in the world, will operates out of several Bay Area venues, including the Castro, Roxie and Vogue theaters of San Francisco, and the New Parkway Theater in Oakland.

The world premiere of “Minister Chucky” was in August 2025 at Queer Screams in Portland. The film has been shown at several other film festivals. Frameline50 is its Bay Area premiere.

Mack, 39, originally from Scotland, moved to the Sunset District a little over a year ago from Los Angeles. He met his husband, Christian Mejia, who grew up in Walnut Creek, at the Edinburgh International Festival several years ago. They married in Las Vegas in 2021.

Kolbeins and Culliton, being Chucky fanatics, memorabilia collectors and repeated viewers of the films and the recent “Chucky” streaming series (2021-2024), invited friend and collaborator Mack to be the producer of their documentary. Mack was not surprised the wedding would have a Chucky theme. His responsibilities also involved being the de facto wedding coordinator, as well as handling much of the location logistics.

“When I found out what we were doing, it sounded like the most exciting, silly, fun thing to be a part of,” he said. “It was my easiest producing gig. It was almost guerrilla-style filmmaking. That’s always fun.”

About 10 friends made the Vegas trip, which included a visit to the Punk Rock Museum and Omega Mart. Mack gave the couple a Chucky bong as their wedding present. It made it into a scene in “Minister Chucky.”

The reality is that Kolbeins (who was born in Canada) and Culliton felt the threat of Trump’s regressive policies immediately after the 2024 presidential election. Therefore, the trip to Vegas became sort of a bittersweet send off because the couple decided to move from 29 Palms in California to Victoria, British Columbia last year.

Kolbeins, Culliton and Mack previously worked together on the short, “Willa Justice: Drag Queen Private Eye” (2024), which Culliton wrote and directed.

“I discovered my love of producing on that short,” Mack said. “The thing about the three of us working together is we always know it’s going to work out. We all come from this DIY make-it-regardless background.”

Mack has a history of activism, focusing on environmental and LGBTQ+ advocacy. Producing films has become his activism. He balances his day job working in the development department at The New Conservatory Theatre with being a creative.

“As a gay trans filmmaker, it’s really important to be telling our stories, especially now. I make films. I support films that I needed to see when I was younger,” he said. “I feel like I have a duty to the younger trans generation because they are really in the eye of the storm right now. Anything we can do to show them they are not alone. That we see them and there’s a future. It’s my guiding principle for everything that I’m doing.”

His next project, “The World’s Coming in Fast,” written and directed by Daniel Talbott, is a feature-length, experimental documentary about San Francisco as a historical home for queer joy.

“It’s a love letter to San Francisco,” Mack said.

Mack is driven to put LGBTQ+ content out there.

“There’s not a lot of trans producers. As we gain more acceptance, people are really going to want to tell our stories. I hope more trans producers get hired,” he said. “There might not be that many of us, but we know what we’re talking about. We deeply understand the stories in a way that other people can’t.”

“Minister Chucky” is part of the Fun in Shorts program (seven films) during the Frameline50 Film Festival. The first screening is on June 21 at the Castro Theatre, 10:30 a.m. and the second showing is on June 27 at the Roxie Theater, 12:30 p.m. For more information, visit .frameline.org.