The Secret of Me

A stirring, revelatory documentary that threads one intersex person’s journey of self-discovery with an exposé of widespread medical mistreatment.

Jim Ambrose was raised as ‘Kristi’ in 1990s Louisiana. He was born intersex, but a doctor convinced his family he was female and conducted surgery on his genitals. After a childhood marked by an attraction to girls but never feeling like one, in adolescence he learned the truth about his identity. What followed were several years of surgeries, therapies and investigations into his own and others’ experiences that would allow Ambrose to become the person he is today.

Three Identical Strangers (MIFF 2018) producer Grace Hughes-Hallett’s feature directorial debut is a sensitive, deeply engaging eye-opener that traces the history of forced gender reassignments and their basis in flawed psychological assumptions. It contextualises Ambrose’s parents’ decision amid the conservatism and ignorance of the 1970s while also making room for intergenerational dialogue: Ambrose’s story is paired with testimony from intersex pioneers Tiger Devore and Cheryl Chase as well as footage from archival films by and about intersex people. Piercing a nefarious veil of silence, The Secret of Me is both an indomitable rallying cry for informed consent and bodily autonomy and a scathing critique of a medical framework invested more in enforcing orthodoxies than empowering individuals.

“Hughes-Hallett’s directorial debut taps into a vein of righteous anger in its powerful, buried history of a marginalized queer community … Intricate, shocking, and deeply affecting.” – IndieWire