Julie Wyman

By 15 she was an American national champion. By 17 she was competing in the Olympics. A formidable figure at five feet, eight inches tall and weighing over 300 pounds, Cheryl Haworth made history in Sydney, Australia in 2000 when she became the youngest athlete to win an Olympic weightlifting medal. Strong!, directed by Julie Wyman, follows Haworth as she struggles to defend her champion status even as her career inches toward its inevitable end. From the highs of her spectacular rise to the lows of battling injuries, Strong! explores the challenges this unusual elite athlete faces: coming to terms with a body that is celebrated within her sport but shunned by mainstream culture. In presenting Haworth’s story, Strong! follows the path of a gender pioneer in an unconventional sport, and makes us question stereotypical notions of health, size, and fitness.

Julie Wyman’s quest to find her place within the little people (LP) community at a moment when dwarf identity is poised to radically change. As Julie unpacks the rumors of “partial dwarfism” in her family she finds that hers is the last of a body type she has inherited. She joins forces with a group of dwarf artists to confront the legacy of being tokenized and put on display.

A Boy Named Sue chronicles the transformation of a transsexual named Theo from a woman to a man over the course of six years. Following Theo's physiological and psychological changes during the process, as well as their effects on his lesbian lover and community of close friends, A Boy Named Sue tells a story about gender identity, relationships, and how even things that seem permanent can change.

In an effort to make the Christmas season even a little interesting, two single lesbians hit the streets to ask friends and strangers of all persuasions, "Who is the woman of your dreams?"

The How We Look Project is a collection of three short narrative films about dwarf culture and identity, created and performed by Little People (LPs). Each film centers one act of image-making, from renaissance portraiture, to sideshow photography, to medical imaging. APPOINTMENT: three LPs named Avery visit a doctor who is more fascinated with his own medical technology than the patients before him. CARNIVAL: Jessica and her “ Midget troupe” pose for a 1924 souvenir postcard. But this moment of commodification also offers Jessica rare hope to reach her disappeared lover and the outside world. COURT: While Fabio, a Court Dwarf in 1572 Italy endures the uncomfortable act of being painted, he wonders if this image can be a means of communicating with future dwarfs.