17 June 2012 / Premiere of documentary on woman Olympic weightlifter

Strong! is a documentary from the PBS series Independent Lens.

The film will premiere at The Roxie Theater as part of the Frameline Film Festival.

3117 16th Street, San Francisco, CA 94110
Sunday, June 17, 11:30 AM
Followed by Q&A with filmmaker Julie Wyman & U.S. Olympic Weightlifter Cheryl Haworth!
Tickets on Sale Now!

One of America’s top Olympic women weightlifters, Cheryl Haworth doesn’t fit the conventions of a typical athlete. At 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighing over 300 pounds, the talented, engaging and intelligent Cheryl is a force of nature unto herself. STRONG! chronicles her battle of maintaining her championship status, while at the same time facing an uncertain future.

Castro muscle bears have nothing on three-time Olympian Cheryl Haworth! “It takes mass to move mass.” That’s what Cheryl, an Olympic Weightlifter who holds the records as the strongest woman in the western hemisphere, has to say about her size. Cheryl is a big woman—a big, strong, healthy woman—and her effervescent gravitational pull far exceeds her size.

Cheryl’s vitality and wit shine through in the first half of the film. In the second act, injury and self-doubt coincide with concerns about her body. What she once saw as a tool for succeeding in the sport she loves, she now sees as a hindrance to a life of love and attraction. Like so many struggles for self-acceptance, Cheryl’s issues are unresolved at the end of the film. That, in itself, is a stark reminder of the power of documentary to capture only a brief snapshot of a larger life.

Director Julie Wyman (A Boy Named Sue, Frameline24) and producer Vivian Kleiman (Tongues Untied) ask us to push our boundaries of what we define as “queer film.” In a community where body image and definitions of femininity are so tied up in identity, Cheryl’s experiences challenge the audience to reconcile societal notions of health and beauty with the healthy, beautiful woman on screen.