A Hobart filmmaker’s documentary about endometriosis is set to reach a national audience after being picked up by SBS On Demand.
Sophia Bender’s 20-minute film Endo Girl is available to stream for free from today.
The documentary shares the stories of 13 women living with endometriosis, exploring their journeys to diagnosis and the effect the disease has had on their relationships, fertility and everyday lives.
Endometriosis is a chronic condition where tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows outside it, which can cause severe pelvic pain, fatigue and difficulties with fertility.
It affects about one in seven Australian women.
Their experiences are brought to life through dance and visual storytelling, with Bender herself performing as the lead dancer.
Bender, 33, grew up in Hobart and attended St Michael’s Collegiate before training full-time in classical ballet in Sydney and Perth.
It was during her studies at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts that she discovered a passion for filmmaking, partly driven by injuries and undiagnosed endometriosis that had been limiting her dancing.
“I found a massive love for filmmaking,” she told Pulse.
“It was an art form that after being injured for so long, I could kind of camera and run with it, in a sense and be really free and didn’t have anything holding me back.”
She went on to complete a Bachelor of Fine Arts in film and television at the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne before working with the Australian Ballet for around five years.
She moved back to Tasmania during COVID and now runs a ballet coaching business in Hobart alongside her filmmaking.
To find participants for Endo Girl, Bender joined endometriosis support groups on Facebook and sought out women of different ages and backgrounds.
The youngest participant was 13 at the time and the eldest was in her mid-50s.
“I was really sick of kind of, you know, even when I first started making the film, talking to strangers or making conversation with people, even in an Uber or something and you’d say, ‘Oh, I’m making this film about endometriosis,’ and no one knew what it was,” she said.
The film was originally released in 2021 but struggled to gain traction due to COVID shutting down the film festival circuit.
It was nominated for an Australian Dance Award that year.
Now, SBS has picked it up and it will be available nationwide.
