Focus Features will release Every Body, the documentary on the lives of intersex people from Academy Award nominated and Emmy-winning filmmaker Julie Cohen (RBG) 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, which helps explain the modern-day treatment of intersex people.
“I’m so excited for people to see Saifa, Alicia and River’s mind-blowing and empowering life stories,” said Julie Cohen. “To partner with Focus Features and my longtime friends at NBC News Studios to bring this movie to the world is both an honor and a thrill.”
It is estimated that up to 1.7% of the world’s population is born with intersex traits, according to The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. The term intersex is used to describe people born with physical sex characteristics that do not fit typical definitions of male or female. These traits may be evident at birth, emerge at puberty, or become apparent later in life.