Julie Cohen’s documentary records the stories of three campaigners who grew up in an era when ‘normalising’ surgery for children was routine
With humour and generosity, three intersex people in the US talk to film-maker Julie Cohen about their experiences campaigning for intersex rights and visibility, and their feelings about having grown up in an era in which intersex children were routinely made to submit to surgery before the age of consent, a cosmetic intervention based on an assumed horror of intersex reality.
This is an educational, eye-opening film, though it arguably leaves some questions unanswered. Sean Saifa Wall is an African American researcher and activist who was subjected to a gonadectomy at 13; Alicia Roth Weigel is an intersex advocate who presented as female at birth, though without a uterus and ovaries; River Gallo is an artist and intersex performer whose film Ponyboi was presented at BFI Flare in London.
With humour and generosity, three intersex people in the US talk to film-maker Julie Cohen about their experiences campaigning for intersex rights and visibility, and their feelings about having grown up in an era in which intersex children were routinely made to submit to surgery before the age of consent, a cosmetic intervention based on an assumed horror of intersex reality.
This is an educational, eye-opening film, though it arguably leaves some questions unanswered. Sean Saifa Wall is an African American researcher and activist who was subjected to a gonadectomy at 13; Alicia Roth Weigel is an intersex advocate who presented as female at birth, though without a uterus and ovaries; River Gallo is an artist and intersex performer whose film Ponyboi was presented at BFI Flare in London.
- 12/12/2023
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
There’s no place like Prime Video for the holidays! The streamer is celebrating the holiday season from the jump, ringing in the holiday season with “Candy Cane Lane,” starring Eddie Murphy and Tracee Ellis Ross, and continuing with a collection of rom-coms and animated specials, such as the DC Comics special “Merry Little Batman.”
Throughout December, Prime Video will also make way for dozens of classic and original films and series, including the sophomore seasons of “Reacher” and “Coach Prime,” the complete “7th Heaven,” and multiple entries into the original “Star Trek” film series.
Continue below to see The Streamable’s must-watch picks this month and see everything coming to Prime Video in December!
30-Day Free Trial $8.99+ / month amazon.com What are the 5 Best Shows and Movies Coming to Prime Video in December 2023? “Candy Cane Lane” | Friday, Dec. 1
Eddie Murphy leads the new Christmas romp as Chris, a man determined...
Throughout December, Prime Video will also make way for dozens of classic and original films and series, including the sophomore seasons of “Reacher” and “Coach Prime,” the complete “7th Heaven,” and multiple entries into the original “Star Trek” film series.
Continue below to see The Streamable’s must-watch picks this month and see everything coming to Prime Video in December!
30-Day Free Trial $8.99+ / month amazon.com What are the 5 Best Shows and Movies Coming to Prime Video in December 2023? “Candy Cane Lane” | Friday, Dec. 1
Eddie Murphy leads the new Christmas romp as Chris, a man determined...
- 12/1/2023
- by Ashley Steves
- The Streamable
After a limited theatrical run, the Focus Features investigative documentary “Every Body” will make its streaming premiere on Peacock this Friday, Aug. 18. Told through exclusive archival footage, talking-head interviews, and more, the investigative documentary shines a light on the growing global movement for understanding and equality for the intersex community, showing the life cycle of historic medical trauma for the marginalized group to the thriving leaders that are pushing the movement forward today. You can watch with a subscription to Peacock.
How to Watch 'Every Body' When: Friday, August 18, 2023 Where: Peacock Stream: Watch with a subscription to Peacock. Sign Up$5.99+ / month peacocktv.com About 'Every Body'
“Every Body,” the latest documentary from Oscar-nominated filmmaker Julie Cohen (“Rbg”), follows the lives of intersex people through the stories of three individuals who have moved from traumatic childhoods to thriving adulthoods after each decided to set aside harmful medical...
How to Watch 'Every Body' When: Friday, August 18, 2023 Where: Peacock Stream: Watch with a subscription to Peacock. Sign Up$5.99+ / month peacocktv.com About 'Every Body'
“Every Body,” the latest documentary from Oscar-nominated filmmaker Julie Cohen (“Rbg”), follows the lives of intersex people through the stories of three individuals who have moved from traumatic childhoods to thriving adulthoods after each decided to set aside harmful medical...
- 8/18/2023
- by Ashley Steves
- The Streamable
Fans of The Name of The Rose author Umberto Eco turned out in NYC, boosting the documentary on medieval scholar turned novelist and social commentator to over $9.1k on one screen – a nice showing by The Cinema Guild for a foreign language documentary on a solid weekend for some indie and arthouse fare.
Umberto Eco: A Library Of The World explores the life and work of the famed Italian writer and semiotics professor, whose bestselling novel was turned into a 1986 film by Jean-Jacques Annaud, starring Sean Connery and Christian Slater as a medieval monk detective and his apprentice.
Director Davide Ferrario, who worked with Eco a year before the writer’s death on a video project for the 2015 Venice Biennale, gained access to his Milanese library of more than 30,000 contemporary books and 1,500 rare and antique volumes. In the doc, the prolific author and original thinker, who has waxed eloquent on blue jeans and comic books,...
Umberto Eco: A Library Of The World explores the life and work of the famed Italian writer and semiotics professor, whose bestselling novel was turned into a 1986 film by Jean-Jacques Annaud, starring Sean Connery and Christian Slater as a medieval monk detective and his apprentice.
Director Davide Ferrario, who worked with Eco a year before the writer’s death on a video project for the 2015 Venice Biennale, gained access to his Milanese library of more than 30,000 contemporary books and 1,500 rare and antique volumes. In the doc, the prolific author and original thinker, who has waxed eloquent on blue jeans and comic books,...
- 7/2/2023
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
In “Every Body,” an activist named Alicia Roth Weigel sits on her couch, swiping through profiles on a dating app and explaining to the camera — and a public who’ve likely never had the opportunity or occasion to think about such things — how challenging it is to find a match. Weigel was born with both male and female biological traits, which a doctor immediately sought to correct via surgery (Weigel describes the loss of her testes as “castration”) so the child would conform to society’s idea of female. But Weigel is not female; she/they are intersex, and her/their story is one America needs to hear.
Why? Well, for starters, in the past six months, an estimated 560 anti-trans bills have been introduced in 49 states. Trans and intersex are not the same thing, representing two entirely different letters in the catch-all Lgbtqia+ label. Still, acknowledging the existence of intersex individuals — “whatever that is,...
Why? Well, for starters, in the past six months, an estimated 560 anti-trans bills have been introduced in 49 states. Trans and intersex are not the same thing, representing two entirely different letters in the catch-all Lgbtqia+ label. Still, acknowledging the existence of intersex individuals — “whatever that is,...
- 7/1/2023
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
A trio of docs and a wider-than-usual run for a Vertical thriller populate a specialty weekend with fewer new openings as theaters stick with Asteroid City and devote screens to Indiana Jones and Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken. Call it jittery Friday as the indie community like the rest of Hollywood awaits news from SAG-AFTRA as the guild’s contract is set to expire tonight.
Opening: Julie Cohen’s documentary Every Body from Focus Features arrives on 250+ screens. Produced in partnership with NBC Studios, the exploration of the intersex experience through personal stories premiered at Tribeca last month. This film follows three individuals who have moved from childhoods marked by shame, secrecy and non-consensual surgeries to thriving adulthood after each decided to set aside medical advice to keep their bodies a secret and,...
Opening: Julie Cohen’s documentary Every Body from Focus Features arrives on 250+ screens. Produced in partnership with NBC Studios, the exploration of the intersex experience through personal stories premiered at Tribeca last month. This film follows three individuals who have moved from childhoods marked by shame, secrecy and non-consensual surgeries to thriving adulthood after each decided to set aside medical advice to keep their bodies a secret and,...
- 6/30/2023
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
“Every Body” is a beautiful and cathartic celebration of intersexuality — and should be mandatory viewing for people of all genders.
Directed by Julie Cohen (co-director of the Oscar-nominated “Rbg”), the documentary opens with a montage of increasingly ridiculous gender reveals. The gender reveals set up the crux of the film, which showcases the irrelevance and — frankly — the stupidity of trying to define people based on their bodies.
“Every Body” follows three intersex adults — actor and screenwriter River Gallo (they/them), political consultant Alicia Roth Weigel (she/they), and Ph.D. student Sean Saifa Wall (he/him) — who are leading figures in intersex awareness advocacy. Being intersex is defined as “any variation within a person’s sex traits with which they’re either born with or develop naturally during puberty,” according to documentary specialist Katharine Dalke, M.D. who works at the Sexual & Gender Minority Research Group of National Institutes of...
Directed by Julie Cohen (co-director of the Oscar-nominated “Rbg”), the documentary opens with a montage of increasingly ridiculous gender reveals. The gender reveals set up the crux of the film, which showcases the irrelevance and — frankly — the stupidity of trying to define people based on their bodies.
“Every Body” follows three intersex adults — actor and screenwriter River Gallo (they/them), political consultant Alicia Roth Weigel (she/they), and Ph.D. student Sean Saifa Wall (he/him) — who are leading figures in intersex awareness advocacy. Being intersex is defined as “any variation within a person’s sex traits with which they’re either born with or develop naturally during puberty,” according to documentary specialist Katharine Dalke, M.D. who works at the Sexual & Gender Minority Research Group of National Institutes of...
- 6/26/2023
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Julie Cohen’s intimate and engaging documentary Every Body is guided by a single question: In a world of binaries, where do intersex people fit? The answer — perhaps we should abolish categories altogether — isn’t very complicated, but creating that reality will be a struggle.
It’s smart that Cohen, who co-directed Rbg and My Name is Pauli Murray, opens her most recent film with a montage of gender reveal parties. The popularity of this practice, in which expectant parents plan an elaborate celebration around the predicted and subsequently disclosed sex of their unborn baby, shows how committed society is to the idea of two genders. Videos of couples staging ornate (and often dangerous) special effects, bursting into tears at the sight of pink confetti or blue fireworks, are haunting. These parties assume that children will play into normative behaviors based on their sex. They are less about the kid...
It’s smart that Cohen, who co-directed Rbg and My Name is Pauli Murray, opens her most recent film with a montage of gender reveal parties. The popularity of this practice, in which expectant parents plan an elaborate celebration around the predicted and subsequently disclosed sex of their unborn baby, shows how committed society is to the idea of two genders. Videos of couples staging ornate (and often dangerous) special effects, bursting into tears at the sight of pink confetti or blue fireworks, are haunting. These parties assume that children will play into normative behaviors based on their sex. They are less about the kid...
- 6/21/2023
- by Lovia Gyarkye
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Julie Cohen’s latest documentary, “Every Body,” premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival, starts with clips of gender reveal parties. As a male-sung rendition of Ronnie Spector’s “Be My Baby” plays, we see happy couples celebrating their upcoming pregnancies, as pink and blue smoke/confetti/etc swirls in the air. But juxtaposed with this happy scene is the knowledge that, as the doc lays out, 1.7% of people have intersex traits, ie they are born with a combination of male and female biology.
These numbers are skewed, according to Cohen, because people are too afraid to disclose whether they belong to the intersex community, and as the rise in anti-trans legislation starts to take hold, it leaves intersex people even more fearful of advocating for themselves. Into this world Cohen introduces the audience to three intersex advocates: Sean Saifa Wall, Alicia Roth Weigel and River Gallo. Each have a unique...
These numbers are skewed, according to Cohen, because people are too afraid to disclose whether they belong to the intersex community, and as the rise in anti-trans legislation starts to take hold, it leaves intersex people even more fearful of advocating for themselves. Into this world Cohen introduces the audience to three intersex advocates: Sean Saifa Wall, Alicia Roth Weigel and River Gallo. Each have a unique...
- 6/11/2023
- by Kristen Lopez
- The Wrap
Three new posters for Julie Cohen’s Every Body have just been released, and you can check them out right here on CinemaNerdz (see below)! The film will be in theaters everywhere on June 30, 2023!
Every Body is a revelatory investigation of the lives of intersex people. The film tells the stories of three individuals who have moved from childhoods marked by shame, secrecy, and non-consensual surgeries to thriving adulthoods after each decided to set aside medical advice to keep their bodies a secret and instead came out as their authentic selves. Actor and screenwriter River Gallo (they/them), political consultant Alicia Roth Weigel (she/they), and Ph.D. student Sean Saifa Wall (he/him) are now leaders in a fast-growing global movement advocating for greater understanding of the intersex community and an end to unnecessary surgeries. Woven into the story is a stranger-than-fiction case of medical abuse, featuring exclusive footage from the NBC News archives,...
Every Body is a revelatory investigation of the lives of intersex people. The film tells the stories of three individuals who have moved from childhoods marked by shame, secrecy, and non-consensual surgeries to thriving adulthoods after each decided to set aside medical advice to keep their bodies a secret and instead came out as their authentic selves. Actor and screenwriter River Gallo (they/them), political consultant Alicia Roth Weigel (she/they), and Ph.D. student Sean Saifa Wall (he/him) are now leaders in a fast-growing global movement advocating for greater understanding of the intersex community and an end to unnecessary surgeries. Woven into the story is a stranger-than-fiction case of medical abuse, featuring exclusive footage from the NBC News archives,...
- 5/31/2023
- by Editor
- CinemaNerdz
The official trailer for the new film Every Body has just been released. The film has just premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and will be in theaters in June!
Every Body is a revelatory investigation of the lives of intersex people. The film tells the stories of three individuals who have moved from childhoods marked by shame, secrecy, and non-consensual surgeries to thriving adulthoods after each decided to set aside medical advice to keep their bodies a secret and instead came out as their authentic selves. Actor and screenwriter River Gallo (they/them), political consultant Alicia Roth Weigel (she/they), and Ph.D. student Sean Saifa Wall (he/him) are now leaders in a fast-growing global movement advocating for greater understanding of the intersex community and an end to unnecessary surgeries. Woven into the story is a stranger-than-fiction case of medical abuse, featuring exclusive footage from the NBC News archives,...
Every Body is a revelatory investigation of the lives of intersex people. The film tells the stories of three individuals who have moved from childhoods marked by shame, secrecy, and non-consensual surgeries to thriving adulthoods after each decided to set aside medical advice to keep their bodies a secret and instead came out as their authentic selves. Actor and screenwriter River Gallo (they/them), political consultant Alicia Roth Weigel (she/they), and Ph.D. student Sean Saifa Wall (he/him) are now leaders in a fast-growing global movement advocating for greater understanding of the intersex community and an end to unnecessary surgeries. Woven into the story is a stranger-than-fiction case of medical abuse, featuring exclusive footage from the NBC News archives,...
- 4/22/2023
- by Editor
- CinemaNerdz
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