Tender Comrades plays on the conventions of documentary filmmaking to tell a fictional story of a radical intellectual celebrity named Sophie Vix Maurer and her biggest fan: a fictionalized version of the artist herself. Shot partially at Occupy Wall Street, the film uses real-life events, fake interviews, and lo-fi re-enactments to illuminate a seldom examined history of anarchism and subversive movements. The stories Sophie re-tells are drawn from the memoirs of 20th century anarchists Alexander Berkman and Emma Goldman, the legendary shooting of their contemporary, Voltairine de Cleyre, and a heart-wrenching anecdote about two women imprisoned during the Dirty War in Argentina. The film is foremost about the relationship between writers and their readers, particularly women writers and readers, and posits this bond as a romance kindled with well-chosen words and a shared history of exuberant resistance.