Sini Anderson

Anderson spent much of her career in San Francisco’s queer community as Chief Curator/Artistic Director for The National Queer Arts Festival, a co-producer for the Nectar Stage at San Francisco's Pride, president of the board of directors for the Harvey Milk Institute, and co-chair of the board of directors for The Queer Cultural Center.

In May 2014, BuzzFeed reported that some of the Kickstarter backers of The Punk Singer did not get the items they paid for, including signed posters, sneak previews and tickets to a private screening. Anderson said that since the documentary was now owned by IFC Films, she was unable to provide sneak previews or private screenings.

Sini Anderson (born November 6, 19??) is an American film director, producer, performance artist, choreographer, dancer and poet, from Chicago, Illinois. Anderson is widely known for directing The Punk Singer (2013), a documentary about riot grrrl musician Kathleen Hanna's legacy and experience with late-stage Lyme disease.

The film premiered in March 2013 at SXSW to positive reviews, and proceeded to be released in 73 cities across America.

Has directed numerous music videos including Jolie Holland's "All Those Girls" (2012), Lovers' "Girl in the Grass" (2014), and Girlpool's "Blah Blah Blah" (2014).

Directed the book trailer for the memoir Whip Smart by Melissa Febos, which won Best Short Documentary at the Fetisch Film Festival 2010.

Other independent film credits include first assistant director on Miggy n Lil (2006), Bare Knuckle (2007), Karma Calling (2009).

Anderson and Hanna had known about each other as fellow artists for years, but it wasn't until mutual friend Tammy Rae Carland introduced the two at the Michigan Women's Music Festival in 2000 that the pair became friends. In 2009, family and friends grew increasingly worried about Hanna's deteriorating health. Hanna had initially approached Anderson about directing the documentary Who Took the Bomp? (2010) for her band, Le Tigre, but Anderson was more concerned with preserving the legacy of her career as a whole. In the spirit of third wave feminism, Hanna agreed to have the documentary made only if Anderson would direct it; Hanna encouraged Anderson to make her first feature-length while Anderson encouraged Hanna to tell her story. Anderson has stated that it is important for people "to hear the deeper story of who [Hanna] is and where she came from, so that they could feel less alone." Halfway through filming, Hanna was diagnosed with late-stage Lyme disease.

Upon moving to San Francisco, Anderson was enraged by the massive sexism in the city's poetry slam scene. Within her first few months of living in San Francisco, Anderson became close friends with Michelle Tea, with whom she would co-create an all-girl weekly open mic series, Sister Spit (1994–1997), and Sister Spit's Ramblin Road Show, a spoken word tour from 1997 to 2000. Anderson and Tea performed in San Francisco for three years before they began Sister Spit's Rambling Road Show, in which they took ten other queer performers on the road with them across the country for three consecutive six-week national summer tours. Sister Spit released several albums including I Spit on Your Country (1997) on Mercury Records, Sister Spit's Ramblin Road Show (1998), Sister Spit's Ramblin Road Show (1999), Greatest Spits!: A Spoken Word Compilation (2001) on Mr. Lady Records and Tribe Spit Deep (2002). Her work is also found in The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry (ThunderMouth Press) and Word Warriors: 35 Women Leaders in the Spoken Word Revolution (Seal Press).