Phoebe Hart is an Australian filmmaker, lecturer and
intersex
Intersex people are individuals born with any of several sex characteristics including chromosome patterns, gonads, or genitals that, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical bina ...
rights activist, born with
Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome
Androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS) is a difference in sex development involving hormonal resistance due to androgen receptor dysfunction.
It affects 1 in 20,000 to 64,000 XY ( karyotypically male) births. The condition results in the partial o ...
. Hart lectures in film, television and digital media at the
Queensland University of Technology
Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is a public research university located in the urban coastal city of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. QUT is located on two campuses in the Brisbane area viz. Gardens Point and Kelvin Grove. The univ ...
,
and is principal of Hartflicker, a video and film production company.
She is known particularly for her autobiographical road trip movie, ''
Orchids, My Intersex Adventure
''Orchids, My Intersex Adventure'' is an auto-biographicalATOM Award descriptio"First Hand Films" ''Interview with Phoebe Hart'', Melbourne, Australia. Retrieved 26 October 2010 2010 documentary about one woman's struggle to understand her own in ...
''.
Early life
Hart describes how she was told she would never menstruate nor have children, but the reasons were not discussed and the topic was taboo. When Hart was 17 years of age, her mother told her the family secret, that Hart had testes in her abdomen. Hart was pressured into a
gonadectomy
Castration is any action, surgical, chemical, or otherwise, by which an individual loses use of the testicles: the male gonad. Surgical castration is bilateral orchiectomy (excision of both testicles), while chemical castration uses pharmaceu ...
(sterilization), and in the documentary she faces the traumatic emotional scars from that operation and the secrecy associated with it.
During the shooting of her auto-biography, her parents initially refused to be filmed.
Career
Hart completed her film studies at the
Queensland University of Technology
Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is a public research university located in the urban coastal city of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. QUT is located on two campuses in the Brisbane area viz. Gardens Point and Kelvin Grove. The univ ...
(QUT) in 1995.
She has been involved in the children's programme ''
Totally Wild
''Totally Wild'' is an Australian children's television series which premiered on Network 10 on 12 July 1992. The series aired on 10 Peach from 2013 to 2020, and 10 Shake from 2020 to 2021. It had a current affairs program format, and did stor ...
'',
Network Ten
Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of five ...
's documentary unit, and the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...
's ''
Race Around the World
''Race Around the World'' was an Australian travel documentary and competition series produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 1997 and 1998. The series was brought to the ABC by filmmaker Michael Rubbo, and was based on the Canad ...
'' and ''
Fly TV
ABC Kids is the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's part-time channel, broadcasting shows between the hours of 5am and 7:30pm for children under 6 years old in each local Australian channel. It shares the same bandwidth as ABC TV Plus which ...
''.
In 2009, Hart was awarded her doctorate from QUT, of which ''Orchids'' was a central element of her doctoral studies.
This documentary took six years for the principal documenters (sisters Phoebe and
Bonnie Hart) to film, using a variety of cameras including semi-professional digital cameras, domestic VHS camcorders, and Super 8.
She describes the work as a means of helping young intersex people to come to terms with their bodies:
Hart is also a former president of the
Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome Support Group Australia
Intersex Peer Support Australia (IPSA), also known as the Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome Support Group Australia, is possibly the oldest known intersex organization, established in 1985. It provides peer and family support, information and advo ...
.
Selected bibliography
Film
* Hart co-directed a documentary series called ''Downunder Grads'' on the condition of Australian higher education for the
Special Broadcasting Service
The Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) is an Australian hybrid-funded public service broadcaster. About 80 percent of funding for the company is derived from the Australian Government. SBS operates six TV channels ( SBS, SBS Viceland, SBS World ...
(SBS), screened in March 2008.
* ''
Orchids, My Intersex Adventure
''Orchids, My Intersex Adventure'' is an auto-biographicalATOM Award descriptio"First Hand Films" ''Interview with Phoebe Hart'', Melbourne, Australia. Retrieved 26 October 2010 2010 documentary about one woman's struggle to understand her own in ...
'' is an auto-biographical
2010 documentary about one woman's struggle to understand her own
intersex
Intersex people are individuals born with any of several sex characteristics including chromosome patterns, gonads, or genitals that, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical bina ...
condition while interviewing other
intersex
Intersex people are individuals born with any of several sex characteristics including chromosome patterns, gonads, or genitals that, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical bina ...
people on a road trip of self-discovery around Australia. Director Phoebe Hart used digital cameras and a small crew including her sister,
Bonnie Hart. The film won the
ATOM Award
The ATOM Awards are a group of awards offered to Australian and New Zealand "professionals, educators and students", honoring achievements in the making of film, television, multimedia, and from 2007 multi-modal productions.
The Awards were esta ...
for Best Documentary General.
* Hart also directed and co-wrote the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...
documentary ''Roller Derby Dolls'' about a group of women who play in
roller derby
Roller derby is a roller skating contact sport played by two teams of fifteen members. Roller derby is played by approximately 1,250 amateur leagues worldwide, mostly in the United States.
Game play consists of a series of short scrimmages (jam ...
.
''Roller Derby Dolls'' screened in a prime-time slot, 9 September 2008.
Peer-reviewed journals
*
*
Books and book chapters
* "Making orchids – Gardening an intersex experience on videotape
n German - Orchideen Züchten. Eine inter Erfahrung auf Film, a contribution to the book ''Inter: Erfahrungen intergeschlechtlicher Menschen in der Welt der zwei Geschlechter'', edited by Elisa Barth, in 2013. Other notable contributors include
Mauro Cabral
Mauro Cabral Grinspan, also known as Mauro Cabral, is an Argentinian intersex and trans activist, who serves as the executive director of GATE. A signatory of the Yogyakarta Principles, his work focuses on the reform of medical protocols and law ...
,
Sally Gross, and
Del LaGrace Volcano
Del LaGrace Volcano (born July 26, 1957) is an American artist, performer, and activist from California. A formally trained photographer, Volcano's work includes installation, performance and film and interrogates the performance of gender on seve ...
.
* "All of Us", a resource for schools produced by the
Safe Schools Coalition Australia
Prior to November 2017, the Safe Schools Coalition Australia (SSCA) functioned as a group of organisations in Australia focused on LGBTIQ people in schools. Its mission is to create safe and inclusive schools for students, families and staff who ...
. Hart appears in a video and in a teachers' Unit Guide.
Editorial works
*
*
Recognition
Hart has received multiple awards and academic honours for the documentary ''
Orchids, My Intersex Adventure
''Orchids, My Intersex Adventure'' is an auto-biographicalATOM Award descriptio"First Hand Films" ''Interview with Phoebe Hart'', Melbourne, Australia. Retrieved 26 October 2010 2010 documentary about one woman's struggle to understand her own in ...
'' and also academic commendation for a related thesis entitled "Orchids: Intersex and Identity in Documentary". She is a Robson Fellow of the
Ormond College
Ormond College is the largest of the residential colleges of the University of Melbourne located in the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is home to around 350 undergraduates, 90 graduates and 35 professorial and academic residents.
Hi ...
,
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...
.
Personal life
Hart and her husband desired to start a family, and adopted a child. Hart's infertility and the stress of the adoption process strained their marriage.
See also
*
List of female film and television directors
This is a list of female film and television directors. Their works may include live action and/or animated features, shorts, documentaries, telemovies, TV programs, or videos.
A
* Jennifer Abbott (Canada)
* Sarah Abbott (Canada
* Jenni ...
*
List of LGBT-related films directed by women
This is a list of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender-related films that were directed by women. LGBT-themed films directed by women – especially, but not exclusively, lesbian-themed movies – are an important and distinct subset of the gen ...
References
External links
Hartflicker website*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hart, Phoebe
Living people
Intersex women
Intersex rights activists
Australian filmmakers
Intersex rights in Australia
Year of birth missing (living people)
Intersex academics
Intersex writers