Move Me

At 27, Kelsey dove into Lake Superior as a dancer and emerged paralyzed. Now she is on a quest to redefine who she is after her life-altering injury.

Kelsey posing on a chair with a wall of pictures in frames behind her
Series
Independent Lens
Premiere Date
November 7, 2022
Length
90 minutes
Funding Initiative
Open Call
filmmaker Kelsey Peterson
Co-Director/Co-Producer

Kelsey Peterson

Kelsey Peterson is a dancer, writer, and filmmaker. She currently serves as co-director with the interabled music and dance production, A Cripple’s Dance. As a filmmaker, she finds that her choreographic background lends to her storytelling, which she leans on in her documentary film, Move Me. She enjoys using art as a vehicle for change.

filmmaker Daniel Klein
Co-Producer/Co-Director

Daniel Klein

Daniel Klein is the founder of award-winning documentary series and production company, The Perennial Plate. He’s made doc shorts, tv series, and branded content around the world. Along with his wife, co-producer Mirra Fine, Daniel has created over 170 short films including the Emmy-nominated PBS series The Victory Garden’s Edible Feast.

Editor

Nico Frank

Nico Frank is a documentary editor based in Portland, Oregon. Through her exploration of various storytelling mediums, she was eventually drawn to the intuitive and sensitive nature of editing. Nico’s work has screened at SXSW, Full Frame, and AFI Docs. She loves telling personal stories that share a universal message.

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The Film

Beneath the waters of Lake Superior off the shore of Wisconsin, Kelsey Peterson underwent a transformation. On the eve of Independence Day 2012, she dove in and smacked the lake bottom head first, suffering a life-altering spinal cord injury that would take away both function and sensation from the chest down, essentially robbing her of her self-identities as an athlete and dancer. Within the spinal cord injury (SCI) community, she found peers and allies in her quest to answer the question: Who am I now? As she grapples with the ebb and flow of hope and acceptance, Kelsey travels across the United States. Along the way, she talks to researchers and meets with people who belong to the SCI community, and who help give her strength and the will to return to dance. When a cutting-edge clinical trial surfaces, it tests her expectations and her faith in the possibility of a cure, forcing her to evaluate the limits of her recovery—body and spirit.

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