Is There Anybody Out There? 12A

Revelatory documentary Is There Anybody Out There? follows debut feature filmmaker Ella Glendining as she goes on a journey to find someone else with a body like hers, exploring what it takes to love and esteem yourself as a disabled person in an ableist society.

Born with a condition so rare that no reliable statistics for it exist, Glendining has always wondered who out there shares her physical experience of the world. Inspired to find others who do, she discovers that meeting them profoundly changes how she sees herself and the future possibilities of her life.

Featuring intimate personal diaries and home movie footage, conversations with similarly bodied people and the doctors treating Glendining’s condition, and a unique, searching perspective, Is There Anybody Out There? invites the viewer to ask questions and challenge assumptions they may never have considered before, taking in ideas around body culture and parenting alongside questions of humanity and medical ethics. With warmth, intelligence and an infectious joy for her body and life as it is, Glendining takes you on an unforgettable journey, full of unexpected detours, that will change how you see others – those both like and unlike you.

F-Rating: Directed by Ella Glendining