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Jabe is no ordinary babe. She measures a towering 188cm, wields a whip for a living and has aspirations to work in the funeral industry. Jabe also has a life-threatening condition called Marfan Syndrome, a connective-tissue disorder that affects one in 3000 people and of which the most evident symptom is accelerated growth.
Through skilfully worked fiction and non-fiction forms, [Jabe Babe: A Heightened Life] paints an intimate and disarming portrait of a quite singular 31-year-old woman, who has lived on the margins all of her life. Born to a schizophrenic mother, shunted from foster home to foster home through her childhood and having undergone open-heart surgery at 17, Jabe has the refreshing ability to accept and work within the limitations of her condition. Having been told she'll live to 25, she inhabits the present like there is no tomorrow.
Through direct to camera monologues, observed interviews and Alice in Wonderland aesthetics, director Janet Merewether has constructed a sensitive documentary that raises questions about society's desire for sexual, visual and genetic conformity.
Janet Merewether will be attending the festival. --- D/S Janet Merewether P Janet Merewether, Deborah Szapiro, Georgia Wallace-Crabbe WS Janet Merewether TD video/col/2005/52mins.
Jane Merewether's films include [A Square's Safari] (1992, short), [Making Out in Japan] (1996, short),
