OCTOPUSALARM

Tintenfischalarm (original title)

Directed by: Elisabeth SCHARANG

Austria. 2006. Documentary. 107min. Color. OV/FrS.

Synopsis

Octopusalarm is what Alex calls the stressful situations in which she, as a 14-year-old, attempted to ward off the inquisitive hands of the boys who wanted to get between her legs. Alex is an intersexual, a hermaphrodite, a person who throws into confusion the precise division of the world into male and female. One in every two thousand babies is born with no clear gender. In Alex's case, at the age of two, this caprice of nature was surgically corrected on medical advice. Following amputation of his penis and testicles and creation of a plastic vagina, Alex grew up in his small village to become a girl wearing clothes size XXL. In autumn 2002, filmmaker and radio presenter Elisabeth Scharang invited Alex, now 26 years old, to participate in her weekly radio broadcast. For the first time, she told her story in public and described the torture inflicted on intersex children in order to adapt to society's norms. It was during the course of the first meeting between the two that the idea for this film came into being. Elisabeth Scharang followed Alexandra with her camera for three years. The two went travelling together, through Alex's past and on to new friendships, from the coastal mudflats of Holland to the Californian Pacific.

October 31st to November 4, 2007

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