I got the opportunity to view the documentary Move Me this week, after its recent debut at the 2022 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, as well as the ReelAbilities Film Festival: New York. The film was co-directed by first-time filmmaker Kelsey Peterson, who was the subject of Move Me, her own personal story about diving into the water of Lake Superior and emerging paralyzed.
Kelsey had been a dancer her whole life, a vibrant woman full of creativity and promise who had to begin again, deciding to push beyond the life she was leaving behind, and moving into a space unfamiliar and new. The doc follows her throughout her days, which include physical therapies, visiting with her parents and friends, living in an apartment with her dog, and making plans for the future.
She investigates a clinical trial, which she hopes can help restore some ease in a few different areas of life – talking frankly about her struggles with her sex life, going to the bathroom, and feeling at home in a body in which you cannot feel.
She and her dad talk a lot about the journey they have gone on together, going from a very close relationship to a love that is strained and tainted by a resentment for the decisions made by Kelsey that contributed to her accident.
The film builds toward a special performance put on by Kelsey and some of her friends that ends up being a really special and inspiring. Kelsey tells her story in such a way that draws viewers into her apartment and into her life in a really personal and real way. Kelsey is a breath of fresh air and an important storyteller. I recommend any fans of film and the human condition to do themselves a favor and view Move Me. It will move you, too.
Move Me will have its U.S. broadcast premiere on the PBS / ITVS weekly series Independent Lens in the winter of the 2022-2022 season.
