16-06-2025
New Doc ‘The Tallest Dwarf' Shows Power Of Body Acceptance
Some of the cast of The Tallest Dwarf (left to right) Mark Povinelli, Matthew Jeffers, Sofiya ... More Cheyenne, Aubrey Smalls, Julie Wyman and Sarah Folkins
Filmmaker and director Julie Wyman went into creating her newest documentary, The Tallest Dwarf, with the ambition of telling the stories of little people in a totally different way. Early on, the film points out that little people (LPs) exist at the intersection of hypervisibility and invisibility. It's hard to imagine the American history of film and television without LPs, for instance, but this community often faces social ostracization and a medical field that sees their bodies as problems that need to be fixed. As a plus-size woman whose been peddled weight-loss medications and procedures her entire life, this part was exceedingly relatable.
In the film, Wyman explores the diverse experiences of LPs through both in-depth interviews and movement-based workshops captured on film. The Tallest Dwarf asks the viewer to consider important questions, like, 'What if the culture created pathways for LPs to love and accept their bodies?' and 'What if LPs don't want medical interventions that make them or their children closer to the norm?' We begin these inquiries as an audience through Wyman, who is on her own journey into an identity as an LP.
Filmmaker, Julie Wyman
Wyman tells the story of lifelong sense of feeling different. She suspects that she is from a long line of LPs on her father's side, but no one in her family has ever been genetically tested. Wyman has short limbs and a long torso, a trait her father also possesses. Standing at five feet today, she's been tall enough throughout her life to be under the radar for an immediate medical diagnosis of dwarfism. This, however, didn't stop her from being subjected to bullying.
She says that part of coping with her limb size difference was turning to the pressures to lose weight and diet. "As a kid, I felt the culture's and my family's drive to change my body in the way I supposedly could, (like) becoming thinner or avoiding fatness," shares Wyman. 'The film intentionally shows both my own past and present questions about my body and the struggles with (my body). I also wanted to punch up at the much larger forces that make people want to be 'normal' rather than take the risk of being in the zone of difference.'
Dwarfism is recognized as a disability by the Americans with Disabilities Act. This has offered needed legal protections, but also has opened up the LP community to the pressures of medical interventions that can be contentious. One of these interventions is a procedure called 'limb lengthening." Wyman herself was offered the option to undergo limb lengthening as a child by her father, but ultimately did not pursue it. Through interviews in the film it becomes clear that for some LPs, biotechnological innovations designed to lengthen limbs are well-received. For others, however, these types of procedures are interpreted as erasure that ultimately delegitimizes disabled bodies.
Behind the scenes of The Tallest Dwarf, Aubrey Smalls (left) and Katrina Kemp
At one point in the film, Wyman receives the results of genetic testing she underwent in hopes of confirming her dwarfism. Of that moment she shares, 'I felt goosebumps, and a big smile popped onto my face. There's something incredibly vindicating about finding out that in each cell in my body, in my DNA, there is a mutation that makes my limbs grow more slowly than average height people. It explains decades of having to work a bit differently than average proportioned people to figure out dance moves, yoga poses, and as a kid in gymnastic routines.'
We learn that Wyman and her father have hypochondroplasia. Basically, Wyman is a tall dwarf, as the film's name suggests. 'I really wanted to find connection for my dwarfism and had a sense that that could be possible even in the gray area that I fall in as a tall dwarf.'
The film premiered at South by Southwest in March, and returned to be screened on its home turf at the San Francisco International Film Festival in April. Masashi Niwano is the Director of Artist Development for SFFILM, the non-profit organization that oversees the festival. Niwano shared, 'When Julie told us about her film as a grantee of the SFFILM Rainin Filmmakers with Disabilities program, we knew how vital and impactful it would be. Seeing it on the big screen, we were equally touched by its charm, humor, and heart.' Wyman points out that San Francisco is ground zero for the disability justice movement as well as the home of some of the biotechnology that impacts LPs the most. 'So the San Francisco International Film Festival (was) a perfect place to show the film,' says Wyman. "I (felt) really honored to be included in this year's festival program.'
Sofiya Cheyenne, the Co-Chair of Dwarf Artist Coalition and one of the stars of The Tallest Dwarf, shared how intention and trust-building were baked into the process of filming and film preparation. Cheyenne shared, 'We did multiple exercises to build trust and ensemble with each other.' One of those exercises was something called 'flocking," an activity where a group follows a leader as if they were a flock of birds in sync. 'Our twist on that exercise (was) not only following our leader, but also encouraging (everyone) to move in whatever way (made) their body feel liberated.' Cheyenne said these explorations in liberated and joyful movement led to things like 'rolling or lying on the floor, sitting in stillness, and using arms and upper body more than our lower extremities.'
Behind the Scenes of The Tallest Dwarf with Julie Wyman, filmmaker, and Sofiya Cheyenne
'I think it was a testament to the little people centered space we created,' shared Cheyenne. "When I watch that footage, I am in awe. The flocking represents more than an ensemble-building exercise. It also exemplifies the love that we were fostering in, with and for our bodies as we move in them.'
Wyman says she hopes the documentary gives audiences a sense of her drive to find community. She describes this as a 'tentative and awkward process,' but one filled with joy and the satisfaction of a diagnosis she could share with her father. 'It feels gratifying to be within the little people community now, to have new friends with whom certain struggles and experiences are understood and never need to be explained. I feel a very strong and new sense of connection that delights me."
The Tallest Dwarf will premier in New York City in July as a co-presentation of Rooftop Films and Reel Abilities.
