Girl Inside

A film by Maya Gallus, Produced by Justine Pimlott and Maya Gallus

Canada | 2007 | 70 minutes | Color | DVD | Order No. 09929

Host a screening

SYNOPSIS

Following 26-year-old Madison during a crucial three years of her transition, GIRL INSIDE is a beautiful film that tracks her emotional, intellectual and spiritual journey of self-discovery that is as important as – if not more than – the physical journey of hormones and surgery. Sharing the spotlight is Vivien, Madison’s glamorous 80-year-old grandmother, who has taken on the job of advising her on all things feminine. While Vivien's attempts to school Madison in old-fashioned codes of fashion and behavior are often hilarious, the juxtaposition of two vastly different experiences of womanhood, from very different generations, raises profound issues about the nature of gender, femininity and sexuality.

Sometimes funny, sometimes painful, this heartwarming coming of age story is both an intimate portrait and a thoughtful exploration of what it means to be a woman. Recommended for courses in transgender and queer studies, gender studies, women’s studies and sociology.

PRESS

“Quietly fierce and deeply intelligent, Madison's story is enlightening without being preachy, and Madison is a fantastically open and candid subject.”

Now Magazine

“A subtle and in-depth portrayal…Shot over three years in direct cinema style and beautifully structured.”

Lynn Fernie DOXA

“Compelling. Goes beyond typical ‘Trans 101’ documentaries… deeper into the life of one individual, with her own desires and opinions.”

Jon Davies Xtra

“GIRL INSIDE gives a frank glimpse into that last bastion of LGBTG-dom to be embraced by the mainstream: the trans-gendered.”

Eye Weekly

"Evocative. Well-written, insightful, and informative. Recommended for collections that focus on gay and lesbian studies as well as gender studies."

Dan DiLandro Educational Media Reviews Online

SCREENING HIGHLIGHTS AND AWARDS

  • Gemini Award, Best Direction in a Documentary Program
  • St. John's International Women's Film Festival
  • NewFest - The New York LGBT Film Festival
  • Frameline - San Francisco LGBT Film Festival
  • DOXA - Documentary Film Festival Vancouver
  • Hot Docs Int'l Documentary Festival
  • Atlantic Film Festival, Halifax
  • Reel Affirmations, DC
  • Womens Film Festival In Seoul

ABOUT FILMMAKER(S)

Maya Gallus

Maya Gallus is an award-winning filmmaker whose work has screened around the world, including the Boston Musuem of Art, Canada House UK, Toronto International Film Festival, Hot Docs, Melbourne Film Festival, MostraRIO, Feminale Festival, Fetisch Film Festival, Thessalonika Film Festival, One WorldHuman Rights Festival, Dok Leipzig, Bergen International Film Festival, Cuenca Women in Direction, FIFA - Films Sur L’art, Montreal World Film Festival, RIDM - Montreal, Yorkton, St John’s Women’s Festival, Citizen Jane , the TFMS Film Series, DOXA, Atlantic Film Festival, Frameline, New Fest, Out Fest, Reel Out, Image et Nation, Ladyfest UK, QDoc, QFilm Festival Indonesia, and Singapore International Film Festival,

Her first film, ELIZABETH SMART; ON THE SIDE OF THE ANGELS, was a hybrid documentary-drama about the author of By Grand Central Central Station I Sat Down And Wept. The film launched at the Toronto International Film Festival and won three Golden Sheaf Awards for Best Production of the Festival, Best Documentary and Best Editing; it was also nominated for a Gemini (Canada’s Emmy Awards) for Best Direction.

Her follow up documentary EROTICA: A JOURNEY INTO FEMALE SEXUALITY, featuring the final interview with 90-year-old Pauline Réage, the mysterious author of Story of O, as well as interviews with the notorious French dominatrix Catherine Robbe-Grillet and performer Annie Sprinkle, among others, launched at the Toronto International Film Festival and was released theatrically in Toronto, San Francisco, San Sebastian and Tokyo. EROTICA was nominated for a Genie (Canada’s Oscars) for Best Feature-Length Documentary as well as Best Arts Documentary at Hot Docs.

GIRL INSIDE, a documentary portrait of 23-year-old Madison, transitioning to her female self over three years with the help of her 80-year-old grandmother, won a Gemini for Best Direction In A Documentary and was nominated for the prestigious Donald Brittain Gemini Award for Best Social Political Documentary.

Her Gemini-nominated feature documentary, DISH-WOMEN, WAITRESSING & THE ART OF SERVICE, a portrait of working women in the service industry, from North American diners, to topless restos, to Japanese fantasy maid cafes, to high end Parisian restaurants, was launched to critical acclaim at Hot Docs.

THE MYSTERY OF MAZO DE LA ROCHE, exploring the love story behind the fiction of one of the most famous, yet secretive women writers of the 20th century, is her second hybrid documentary-drama, nominated for three Canadian Screen Awards and recipient of the Golden Sheaf Award for Best Social Issue Documentary.

Her most recent film, co-directed with Justine Pimlott, is DERBY CRAZY LOVE.
Other credits include co-directing and co-producing the Gemini-nominated PUNCH LIKE A GIRL, with Justine Pimlott, about amateur women’s boxing; co-producing and writing the award-winning FAG HAGS: WOMEN WHO LOVE GAY MEN, and co-producing CAT CITY. (04/14)

Justine Pimlott

Justine Pimlott is an award-winning filmmaker who made her directorial debut with LAUGH IN THE DARK, which won the Best Social Issue Documentary Award at Hot Docs and Best Canadian Film at the Inside Out Film & Video Festival in Toronto.

In 2003, she formed Red Queen Productions with Maya Gallus and launched their company with the critically acclaimed six-part reality series on women’s boxing, PUNCH LIKE A GIRL, for which they each received two Gemini nominations (Canada’s Emmy Awards) for Best Direction in a Documentary Series. PUNCH LIKE A GIRLwas also re-released as a single documentary.

Her documentary FAG HAGS:Women Who Love Gay Men, which she directed and co-produced, won the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the Inside Out Film Festival and the Audience Award for Best Canadian Film at the Reel Out Festival. FAG HAGS was broadcast on CBC: The Passionate Eye, SRC, Showcase, IFC, SBS, YLE, SBS Australia and numerous others.

She also wrote and directed CAT CITY, an hour-long documentary that takes the viewer into the heart of the cat overpopulation crisis in Canada. CAT CITY premiered at the Royal Cinema in Toronto, and screened at numerous festivals including Blue Planet Film Fest, Commfest, Moving Image Film Festival and Wisconsin International Film Festival. Additional directing credits include several episodes of a 13-part reality series, FIRE STATION, for the Discovery Channel and CHASING THE DREAM, a pre-Olympic one hour special for CBC Sports on international women’s hockey.

As a producer, Justine’s credits include LAUGH IN THE DARK, PUNCH LIKE A GIRL, FAG HAGS, CAT CITY and DERBY CRAZY LOVE, as well as several documentaries directed by Maya Gallus, including the hybrid documentary-drama, THE MYSTERY OF MAZO DE LA ROCHE, nominated for three Canadian Screen Awards and recipient of the Golden Sheaf Award for Best Social Issue Documentary, the feature documentary, DISH-WOMEN, WAITRESSING & THE ART OF SERVICE and the feature documentary, GIRL INSIDE, which won the Gemini Award for Best Direction In A Documentary and was nominated for the Donald Brittain Gemini Award for Best Social Political Documentary.

Most recently, Justine co-produced and co-directed, DERBY CRAZY LOVE, with Maya Gallus, which launched at RIDM in Montreal in 2013 and is playing at various film festivals, including DOXA, QDoc Portland, Inside Out, Frameline and Northside in Brooklyn. She is currently in development with a several projects for Red Quen Productions, including the feature documentary THE FRUIT MACHINE, about the rise of the early gay rights movement in Canada and the U.S. as told through the story of the radical gay and lesbian newspaper, The Body Politic. (4/14)

YOU MIGHT ALSO BE INTERESTED IN

Derby Crazy Love

This popular documentary from Toronto filmmakers Maya Gallus and Justine Pimlott takes viewers inside the adrenaline-fueled phenomenon of women’s roller derby. With over 1,400 leagues worldwide, it is now the fastest growing women’s sport. DERBY CRAZY LOVE accompanies Montreal’s top team, New Skids on the Block, on its exhilarating journey to regional championships, where they face off in a pitched battle against U.K. powerhouse, London Rollergirls, and reigning world champions, New York’s Gotham Girls. New Skids players and their British and U.S. rivals share stories of being powerful women in traditional sports, along with insights about derby’s recent rebirth, after decades of decline, as a vibrant, original expression of third wave feminism and Amazon-like physicality rooted in punk’s colorful DIY counterculture. Deftly tackling issues of masculinity, femininity, aggression, body image, queer identity and gender norms, this fast-paced yet reflective film captures the spirit of community, inclusiveness, and sisterhood at roller derby’s core today.
Learn more

Dish

Why do women bring your food at local diners, while in high-end establishments waiters are almost always men? DISH, by Maya Gallus, whose acclaimed GIRL INSIDE (2007) won Canada’s Gemini Award for documentary directing, answers this question in a delicious, well-crafted deconstruction of waitressing and our collective fascination with an enduring popular icon. Digging beyond the obvious, Gallus, who waited tables in her teens, explores diverse dynamics between food servers and customers, as well as cultural biases and attitudes they convey. Her feminist analysis climbs the socio-economic ladder—from the bustling world of lower-end eateries, where women prevail as wait staff, to the more genteel male-dominated sphere of haute cuisine. Astute, amusing observations from women on the job in Ontario’s truck stop diners, Montreal’s topless"sexy restos," a Parisian super-luxe restaurant, and Tokyo’s fantasy "maid cafés", as well as male customers’ telling comments, disclose how gender, social standing, earning opportunities, and working conditions intersect in the food service industry.
Learn more

Orchids: My Intersex Adventure

Gen X filmmaker Phoebe Hart always knew she was different growing up – but she didn’t know why. This award-winning documentary traces Phoebe’s voyage of self-discovery as an intersex person, a group of conditions formerly termed hermaphroditism. Learning only in her teens that she was born with 46XY (male) chromosomes, Hart now seeks to understand her own story and the stories of others affected by this complex and often shameful syndrome. With help from sister Bonnie (born with the same condition) and support from partner James, Hart drives across Australia, interviewing individuals whose struggles and victories mirror and differ from her own. Some advocate systemic change ending shame and controversial genital surgeries, while others debate coming out or staying closeted with a stigmatized secret. Questioning rigidly defined constructs of gender, sexuality, and normality, often with lively good humor, ORCHIDS is the first film to look at intersex from a positive perspective. Its engaging portrait of survival, courage and reconciliation will speak to a variety of audiences and spark lively discussion about what it means to be perceived as "different."
Learn more

The Same Difference

THE SAME DIFFERENCE is a compelling documentary about lesbians who discriminate against other lesbians based on gender roles. Director Nneka Onuorah takes an in-depth look at the internalized hetero-normative gender roles that have become all too familiar within the African American lesbian and bisexual community. Onuorah shows how these behaviors reproduce the homophobic oppression and masculine privilege of the straight world, while looking for solutions in compelling discussions with community members. Self-identified studs—and the women who love them—discuss hypocrisy in terms of gender roles, performative expectations, and the silent disciplining that occurs between community members. This film features many queer celebrities, including actress Felicia “Snoop” Pearson from the critically acclaimed HBO drama The Wire, and Lea DeLaria from Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black, living daily with opinions about how identity should be portrayed. Onuorah's engaging documentary shines a light on the relationships and experiences within the queer black female community, intersecting race, gender and sexuality. Required viewing for Women’s, Gender and Queer Studies.
Learn more

A Normal Girl

A NORMAL GIRL brings the widely unknown struggles of intersex people to light through the story of intersex activist Pidgeon Pagonis.
Learn more

Deep Run

Executive produced by Susan Sarandon, DEEP RUN is a powerful verité portrait of trans life in rural North Carolina. Exiled by her family and rejected by an ex-partner, 17-year-old Spazz has no one to lean on for support. But when Spazz falls in love again and summons up the courage to become Cole, a strong-willed trans-man, his candid humor and steadfast, all-inclusive Christian beliefs counter the bigotry he experiences daily. This deeply personal documentary reveals rebirth and courage within America’s deeply conservative Bible Belt as Cole struggles to find a church that will affirm his identity and the couple's relationship. With a small group of supportive friends, relatives, and his girlfriend, Ashley, Cole's search for love and belonging leads him to a radical revision of what faith and church can be. An intimate study of young outsiders in an insular Christian community, DEEP RUN explores the intersection of modern identity and faith in the American South. Essential viewing for LGBTQIA Audiences, Queer and Gender studies classes.
Learn more
Shopping Cart