Every Body (Remix)
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''Every Body'' is a 2023 American
documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...
directed by and produced by
NBC News Studios NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Media Group, a division of NBCUniversal, which is itself a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's various operations ...
. It features Sean Saifa Wall,
Alicia Roth Weigel Alicia Roth Weigel is an American writer, political activist, and intersex advocate. She served as a Human Rights Commissioner for Austin, Texas and is the founder of the firIntrepida Strategy Weigel, who is intersex, was profiled alongside Riv ...
and
River Gallo River Gallo is a Salvadoran-American filmmaker, actor, screenwriter, model, and intersex rights activist. They wrote, directed, and acted in the 2019 short film ''Ponyboi'', which was the first film to feature an openly intersex actor playing a ...
. The film premiered at the
Tribeca Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Enterprises. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. The festival ...
on June 11, 2023, and was released by
Focus Features Focus Features LLC is an American independent film production and distribution company, owned by Comcast as a unit of Universal Pictures, which is itself a unit of Comcast's division NBCUniversal. Focus Features distributes independent and fore ...
in the United States on June 30, 2023. It received positive reviews.


Synopsis

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...
wrote that the film, "uncovers the misconceptions around intersex people and the mistreatment they've faced". The definition of
intersex Intersex people are those born with any of several sex characteristics, including chromosome patterns, gonads, or genitals that, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical binar ...
is a person who looks to be one gender but has subtle biological characteristics of the other, and is neither 100% male or 100% female. This condition is from birth. Alicia, for example, looks very much like a young blue eyed blonde girl. She has a vagina, but beneath it are not a uterus and ovaries, but internal testicles, and her chromosomes are XY. All three subjects are chronicled, and they describe the painful and unnecessary surgical procedures to remove what made them intersex. (Alicia's testicles were removed at a very young age.) Alicia decides to go public with her condition in order to speak out against a "
Bathroom Bill A bathroom bill is the common name for legislation or a statute that denies access to public toilets by gender or transgender identity. Bathroom bills affect access to sex-segregated public facilities for an individual based on a determination o ...
" that was making its way through the Texas state legislature, despite warnings that this will make dating for her much more difficult. She succeeds in scuttling the bathroom bill. She then leads many protests to end unnecessary intersex surgery, and identical protests are shown in various American cities. The film ends with a celebration. All three subjects, plus all the principal players in the film - director, producer, etc. - all happily dance one by one before the camera with their names and pronouns displayed.


Production


Release

''Every Body'' premiered at the
Tribeca Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Enterprises. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. The festival ...
on June 11, 2023. It had a limited theatrical release in the United States by
Focus Features Focus Features LLC is an American independent film production and distribution company, owned by Comcast as a unit of Universal Pictures, which is itself a unit of Comcast's division NBCUniversal. Focus Features distributes independent and fore ...
on June 30, 2023. The film was released on digital platforms on July 18, 2023. It was released in the United Kingdom by
Dogwoof Dogwoof is a film-distribution company based in the United Kingdom. History Dogwoof Pictures Dogwoof was founded in 2003 by Andy Whittaker, and originally concentrated on foreign films, including such titles as ''Don't Move'', '' Fateless'', ...
on December 15, 2023. In the United States and Canada, the film opened in 225 theaters and made $150,030 its opening weekend. It went on to gross a total of $273,860.


Critical reception

Matt Zoller Seitz Matt Zoller Seitz (born December 26, 1968) is an American film and television critic, author and filmmaker. Career Matt Zoller Seitz is editor-at-large at RogerEbert.com, and the television critic for ''New York'' magazine and Vulture.com, as w ...
of ''
RogerEbert.com ''RogerEbert.com'' is an American film review website that archives reviews written by film critic Roger Ebert for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' and also shares other critics' reviews and essays. The website, underwritten by the ''Chicago Sun-Times ...
'' described the film as "a moving, fascinating look at a too-often-ignored subset of the world's population, filled with empathy and understanding but also a cool, analytical anger about what history has put them through". Lovia Gyarkye from ''
The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...
'' called the film "engaging and informative" and ended her review with, "The film leaves you with the sense that, with greater awareness and collective action, the future for the intersex community can be powerful and bright". Teo Bugbee writing for ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' gave a positive review, saying: "The film benefits from its choice of subjects, as Wall, Gallo and Weigel are all endearing and deeply informed. Their candor animates the unimaginative talking head interview footage from the director Julie Cohen ('' RBG''). But beyond casting, Cohen's best directorial choice is to show examples from the history of intersex medical care. Peter Debruge of ''
Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' wrote, "Intersex identity is subject enough for one film, and this one covers an astonishing amount of ground in 92 minutes' time".


References


External links

* *{{Imdb title 2023 films 2023 documentary films 2023 LGBTQ-related films American LGBTQ-related documentary films 2020s English-language films Intersex-related documentary films Intersex-related films 2020s American films English-language documentary films