With: Mani Mitchell, Hida Viloria, Alice Dreger
Director/Writer: Grant Lahood 
Producer: Gran Keir 
Photography/Editor: Grant Lahood
Sound: Greg Junovic
Colourist: Alexander Behse
REVIEWS

When a baby is born, the first question we ask is “Is it a boy or a girl?”  But what if it’s neither?  1 in 2,000 babies is born with genitalia so ambiguous that the doctors cannot easily answer this question.  ​This groundbreaking documentary takes a look into the world of intersex people, those 1 in 2000 of us whose bodies fall somewhere between male and female.  This is a story of how intersex people navigate their way in a largely binary ‘male/female’ world and offers a wonderful insight about what it’s like to grow up in an intersex body.   It’s a deeply personal, very moving, frank and funny exploration of a subject that is quite possibly the last taboo.

​"Given that many viewers of this film will be learning about intersex issues for the first time, it has to balance providing a solid overview of the basics with engaging an uncertain audience and respecting its subjects.  This is something it does very well, largely thanks to a series of strong interviews with charismatic individuals whose personal stories combine into a complex whole. 

Issues of gender identity - those who feel male, female or neither - are explored with such simplicity and honesty that they are unlikely to alienate viewers.  The film challenges conventional notions about what makes a 'real' man or woman, and also looks at prejudices and expectations around sexual orientation that have contributed to the identities imposed on many intersex people from outside.  Reference is made to famous cases that call into question the notion of gender as an entirely social phenomenon, and several of the film's participants enthuse about their lives in San Francisco, a city whose liberal attitudes make life far easier...

Intersexion is a vital film not only in bringing it to public view, but in doing so primarily through the stories of intersex people themselves - people tired of being squeezed out of society, now setting their own agenda.  Not just a footnote on an already crowded equalities agenda, but part of the world like anybody else."

- Jennie Kermode, EyeForFilm

Website: intersexionfilm.com
FILM SOCIETY SCREENINGS
​
​Waitati
Tuesday, 12 June, 8:00pm

Palmerston North
Monday, 29 October, 6:00pm

Hamilton 
Monday, 12 November, 8:00pm

Want to see this film?  Ask your local Film Society to add to their 2019 programme.