Independent Lens “Move Me”

Monday, Nov. 7 at 9 p.m.

At 27, Kelsey Peterson dove into Lake Superior as a dancer and emerged paralyzed. But within the Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) community, she found allies in her quest to discover who she is now and to dance with disability. When a cutting-edge trial surfaces, it tests her expectations of a possible cure. She finds herself both scared it might not work—and scared that it might.

Over the course of the film, Peterson not only speaks with experts, family, and peers, but also turns the camera on herself, sharing her own vulnerabilities as she is forced to evaluate the possibilities of her recovery, body, and spirit.

“The purpose of this film has honestly changed a lot over the last five years of making it, because this journey has been one of profound healing for me,” said Peterson. “I started out making it because I wanted to find a cure for spinal cord injury. In seeking out answers from the community—scientists and other people with injuries—I unexpectedly developed a deep love for my disability experience and for my body that I did not have when I started making this film. I wanted to tell this story to bring healing to those of us who have lost things that defined us and to my beloved spinal cord injury community. I think “Move Me” works to shift a harmful and narrowed narrative about people with disabilities, and if this film—or my experience—can serve as a bridge to connect able-bodied people to the disability experience, in a way that holds more empathy and accountability for making this world more inclusive and accessible, that would be an honor.”