Your Fat Friend, directed by UK documentary maker Jeanie Finlay, will open across UK cinemas on Friday February 9, following its June 2023 Tribeca premiere and a preview Q&A tour which saw Finlay and subject Aubrey Gordon travel across the UK and Ireland to sold out screenings. The film is a Glimmer Films and Tull Stories release of a Field of Vision and BFI Doc Society presentation, produced by Glimmer Films.
Made over six years, acclaimed director Jeanie Finlay charts the rise of writer and activist Aubrey Gordon from anonymous blogger to NYTimes best-selling author and podcaster, whose aim is to facilitate a paradigm shift in the way we see fat people and the fat on our own bodies. Her life-changing work has brought her an ardent, international audience but also threats to her life. One of her biggest challenges is getting her parents to listen.
Jeanie Finlay is a UK-based documentary maker who has made nine feature films for HBO, IFC & BBC Storyville and others including Your Fat Friend; Seahorse; Game Of Thrones: The Last Watch; SOUND IT OUT; The Great Hip Hop Hoax andOrion: The Man Who Would Be King. Jeanie is a Chicken & Egg Awardee with retrospectives at MOMI NYC, BFI and a Criterion collection titled People Person: Documentaries by Jeanie Finlay.
Your Fat Friend had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival and also screened at a number of other festivals including the Edinburgh International Film Festival, DMZ International Documentary Film Festival in Seoul and Sheffield DocFest where it won the Audience Award.
Glimmer Films and Tull Stories previewed the film in 12 cities across the regions of the UK throughout January 2024. Screenings were hosted by special guests including Desiree Burch, Sofie Hagan and Josie Long. Glimmer Films and Tull Stories are working with Reclaim The Frame on the February 9 opening.
Jonny Tull of Tull Stories comments: “Jeanie is one of the world’s greatest documentarians and it’s a privilege to be able to be part of the release of Your Fat Friend. Watching the film at DocFest in the summer, it was easy to see the undeniable impact that this film has, and the energy it instils. What a joy it will be to take this inspirational and important film to cinemas – and to its audience.”
Melanie Iredale of Reclaim The Frame comments: “[We] couldn’t be more excited to be joining the Your Fat Friend party, celebrating this thought-provoking portrait of writer-activist Aubrey Gordon with audiences across the UK. We love working with Jeanie Finlay to bring her small stories to the big screen – as a filmmaker she brings such sensitivity to her subjects and has her audience in mind from the get go. Your Fat Friend is no different, and together with Jeanie and Tull Stories, we look forward to bringing special events to cinemas with that same consideration and care.”
Adds director Jeanie Finlay: “Experiencing audience reactions to the film I have made as we have toured film festivals around the world has been so moving. People have connected very strongly with Aubrey, her family and the complexity of navigating her work to end anti-fat bias. The film has prompted many emotional conversations. I can’t wait to now take the film out to UK audiences. Working with Jonny at Tull Stories and Reclaim The Frame means that we’re able to deliver a creative tour with immense care.”
