For the majority of viewers venturing to see Every Body, in theaters this Friday, the new documentary will be their first exposure to the intersex rights movement. It may feel like a novel discovery, but activist and featured subject Alicia Roth Weigel wants to set the record straight: “We’re not a fringe movement,” she states. “We’ve been around for 30 years, we just haven’t been given the airtime.”
Weigel, along with fellow on-screen leads Saifa Wall and River Gallo, made their voices known long before cameras started rolling. However, it was the woman behind those cameras, accomplished documentarian Julie Cohen, that gave the trio the confidence to share their stories in this format. “I’ve done my share of media stuff and I think media can be gross,” says Wall. “It can be exploitative and sensationalistic, especially when documenting intersex issues … From the beginning, Julie took a lot of care so, for me, I could take a gamble on [her because] she took a gamble on me.”
“I had a lot of reservations at first,” revealed Gallo, who shared this sentiment with Cohen for the first time during our interview. “Sometimes I want to keep sh*t to myself,” she jokes. “We’re sharing about our stories and our bodies constantly, especially as activists. But there was something about Julie. She’s just so endearing and so full of genuine love and care … She made me feel like my story would be honored and respected and celebrated.”
Cohen, whose incredible streak of gender-focused documentaries includes an Oscar nomination for RBG back in 2018, knew her subjects’ personal journeys would make for a strong feature film. “Really great stories are what draw me in, Cohen explains. “[It] was important to watch in and of itself and involved affirmation of self that is at the core of a really great story.” Comprehensive in its information but deeply intimate in the details, Cohen’s latest is surely one of her most vital stories to date.
Geek Vibes Nation spoke to Cohen and her trio of subjects before the film’s World Premiere at the Tribeca Festival. Here is our conversation, edited for length and clarity.
It’s such an obvious question, but where did this project begin for you, Julie? What was the impetus to take it on?
Julie Cohen: The impetus comes from the archival story that’s in the middle of the film. NBC News Studios, with whom I have a long relationship, asked me to look through their archives for stories that might make good jumping off points for feature documentaries. That’s what led me to that historic story about David Reimer and Dr. Money. Looking into what the modern-day relevance and correlation could be for that led into the story of the modern intersex rights movement, people whose own medical treatment, sadly, was often influenced by this unusual, historic case. Looking a bit into … I don’t even want to say, “What’s the intersex rights movement up to these days,” because I didn’t know what was going on. [It was more like] “Are there out intersex people? What are they doing? What are they up to?”
The beauty of Google is you can find the answer to that pretty quickly. Even if they’re not getting a whole lot of mainstream news coverage yet or hadn’t been at the time I was looking into this a few years ago, there’s a lot going on. This is a growing, blossoming, mushrooming, spreading-all-over-in-a-psychedelic-kind-of-way movement. Everything that these three [activists] were doing felt very politically relevant to other movements that have gone in the past and are going on now. [It] was important to watch in and of itself and involved some affirmation of self that is at the core of a really great story. This is important, but really great stories are what draw me in.
I have to ask about John Money. When that first archival piece appears, it appears fairly subtly. Slowly, that story really engrosses the film, to the point that John Money becomes his own character in the documentary in a very horrifying way.
Cohen: Right.
You said the impetus was Money’s case, but when did you decide that the film would start with the modern movement and then Money would ease in later in the film?
Cohen: I decided pretty early that I really wanted the core of this story to be about the modern-day intersex rights movement. Once it became clear how much was going on and how much there was to say about it and how much I thought people would be blown away and enjoy learning about it, that was going to be the center. Knowing that there was this background story, I wanted to make sure that the Act 2, not to get too film nerdy—
Please do!
Cohen: …but I wanted to make sure that Act 2 didn’t come out of the blue. It would be good for you to have some understanding. Also, I love weird archival footage. These people that [Money’s] talking to, a lot of them are in kooky hats. It just seemed so old school and such an interesting contrast for the “in living color,” both literally and metaphorically, people of today. I just thought, “Well, you’re going to meet Dr. Money and not know what to make of him, really, for the first act of the film, and then we’re going to drop back and hear his whole crazy ass story.”
[all laugh]
Cohen: [We’re] not on live television, so we can say whatever we want.
Speaking to the activists, this is a very personal documentary. You’re sharing a lot of very private information, like medical records and familial relationships. What made you all decide that Julie and her team were the best people to share your stories and put it on the big screen in this very intimate way.?
Saifa Wall: We had a very lovely dinner last night with the cast and crew. One thing that I kept saying is that everyone affiliated with this production has been really sincere, really kind, and really thoughtful. I’ve done my share of media stuff and I think media can be gross. It can be exploitative and sensationalistic, especially when documenting intersex issues and intersex folks. But from the beginning, Julie took a lot of care so, for me, I could take a gamble on [her because] she took a gamble on me. Throughout the process, Julie handled this production with a lot of integrity.
Alicia Roth Weigel: I [agree with] what Saifa said. Julie takes it with a lot of care. I think she has our best interests in mind and was not looking to exploit us. In addition, she has such a track record for movies in the realm of gender equity and political activism. Because we are such an underserved movement – financially underserved, in terms of the airtime we get, the platforms we’re given, etc. – having someone as credible as Julie as a validator for us helps establish us as not a fringe movement because we’re not a fringe movement. We’ve been around for 30 years, we just haven’t been given the airtime. Working with her, not only do we trust Julie and are cared for by her, but it’s almost like this stamp of approval that is going to help us be taken seriously, frankly, as a movement, as we should’ve been for many years prior.
River Gallo: [To Julie] I don’t know if I ever shared this with you, Julie, but I had a lot of reservations at first to be involved just because … I don’t know, sometimes I want to keep shit to myself. Especially as intersex people, we often are forced to divulge so much personal stuff everywhere. We’re just sharing about our stories and our bodies constantly, especially as activists. But there was something about Julie. She’s just so endearing and so full of genuine love and care. She made me feel safe and she made me feel like my story would be honored and respected and celebrated. That, as an intersex person, and just as a human being, is all that I could’ve asked for.
Every Body releases in theaters June 30, courtesy of Focus Features.
Larry Fried is a filmmaker, writer, and podcaster based in New Jersey. He is the host and creator of the podcast “My Favorite Movie is…,” a podcast dedicated to helping filmmakers make somebody’s next favorite movie. He is also the Visual Content Manager for Special Olympics New Jersey, an organization dedicated to competition and training opportunities for athletes with intellectual disabilities across the Garden State.