Mesha Kussman

The story of Esther Williams is that of an improbable encounter. That of the glamorous Hollywood of the 1940s with a swimming champion. A meeting that gave birth to the most kitsch and flamboyant genre films in Technicolor: the Aqua-musicals! A dive into the troubled waters of post-war Hollywood, where only her qualities as an athlete allow an extraordinary actress to fight to emancipate herself and avoid the traps of the predators who lurk around her

In the documentary short “This One Is For You,” celebrated burlesque dancer Jillian Schmitz shares her journey of navigating emotional abuse, depression, anorexia, and misogyny to embrace her authenticity and transform trauma into creative power. Dancing through the dark corners of her pain, she strips away the shameful stigma of violence and abuse to find freedom, self-love, healing, and recovery in an unapologetic celebration of her sexuality and sensuality.