This stylish film artfully explores the potent creative collaboration between intersex activist Mani Bruce Mitchell and the acclaimed photographer Rebecca Swan. Portrayed through this lens, Mitchell’s story introduces viewers to notions of fluid gender identity, challenging the rigid categories of “male” and “female.” Documenting the way Mitchell boldly expresses her own intersex identity through the medium of art, the film challenges the viewer to see Mitchell for who s/he is: not the weak and vulnerable “monster” on display for medical students at the hospital or in photographs, but someone who is just different.
Awards
Best Short Documentary Best Novel Filmmaker - Documentary New Zealand International Film Festival 2006
Best Short Documentary – Austin Gay and Lesbian Film Festival 2006
Kirsty MacDonald is an independent filmmaker based in Auckland, New Zealand. In 2009 she completed a feature-length documentary and 8 short films exploring alternative gender identity and creativity called Assume Nothing. Accompanying the photographs of acclaimed New Zealand photographer Rebecca Swan, these films formed part of the widely attended Assume Nothing Exhibition, touring galleries, museums and film festivals all along year 2010.
Selected filmography
Black and White (2006)
Good For a Girl (2005)
I Can Read You Like a Book (2003)