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Delightful Docs

Is There Anybody Out There?

Is There Anybody Out There?


Born with no hip joints and short femurs, a condition so rare that there is little reliable information about it, Ella Glendining decides to go in search of people who can share their experience and feelings about having a body like hers. In doing so, she challenges lazy ableist assumptions, experiences a number of unexpected surprises and encounters people who look like her. With great warmth and an infectious joy for her body and life as it is, Glendining challenges us to question the way we see others, like and unlike ourselves. Is There Anybody Out There? is a revelatory film that gently tugs at the viewer's biases and looks to a day when inclusivity is no longer an ‘issue’.


Ella Glendining


Ella Glendining is a writer-director dedicated to telling authentic disabled stories. She has written and directed short films with backing from Film4, the BFI, Arts Council England, Screen South, and the National Paralympic Heritage Trust. Glendining was named one of Screen International’s Stars of Tomorrow 2020. Her latest work is IS THERE ANYBODY OUT THERE? (2023) which has been selected at Sundance FF.

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