Yelyzaveta Pysmak's My Fat Arse and I is showing exclusively on MUBI starting April 6, 2022 in the series Brief Encounters.
Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by low weight, food restriction, body image disturbance, fear of gaining weight, and an overpowering desire to be thin. At least that's what Wikipedia says. While hearing "anorexia" people always see pictures of skin-and-bones women fasting for months, yet the issue starts a lot earlier. Distorted body image is a subtle thing, which slowly grows into you, bit by bit.
This is a very personal project as I too was caught in that eating disorder cycle. When I was reaching for information I saw some kind of polarity in media and art on this topic. Either it was on a pro-ana depressive side, or love-yourself-as-you-are body-positive side. For me, neither was helpful. When I started to get out of this, I suddenly realized that it is surreal to feel such intense emotion from some cake or a donut. That's just silly. And I laughed. At that very moment I realized that was exactly the thing I was missing: laughter. Just a glimpse at how absurd it actually is.
In fact, with the perspective of time after finishing the film, the problem of body image itself has become so small, distant, and meaningless. Yet time has shown me that this kind of humorous attitude and clear orientation towards light and force is a key element to winning both internal and external battles. Whether it be building peace with your body or finding your place after a genocide has taken place in your country and your home city has been destroyed. Reality really loves to make new friends, and she sure loves those who are able to befriend her.
Of course, coming back to the subject of butts, my struggle sure was real, as it is for almost 10% of the population. But fixating and not having a wider perspective has made this insufferable for me. So, here is this little film of mine on your screen as a lighthearted and probably enjoyable reminder, that it's you who chooses the point of view and there's ain't anybody else who's going to work on your soul garden for you, laddy. But that is some good news, ‘cause you can do everything just like you want it. You can even build a Pink Panther-themed swimming pool on remains of your former pain.
