By Will Barber Taylor

A woman recounts her experience living with chronic pelvic pain – how health professionals have failed her, men have rejected her, and shame, anger, and hatred have plagued her body.

Tightly Wound is an important film. It is a film which place a message at its core, a message a hope, a hope that will allow women who have the condition called vaginismus that they are not alone; that though you may feel as if the world is attempting to break you that you can free yourself and feel better about your body. Writer and director Shelby Hadden is poetic and prophetic in her depiction of the experiences that so many women go through, experiences that are too often ignored. This film not only educates us but does so in an unflinching way that ensures its audience fully understands what many women go through and yet feel that they dare not talk about because of societies reaction to the subject.

The animation is stunning and Sebatian Bisbal should be given praise for his imaginative and stunning artwork that brings the story to life in such a surprising and frank way. His skill is evident from the very first second of the film to its final frame of animation and his imaginative and awe inspiring work deserves as many plaudits as it possibly can.

Tightly Wound is an important film. It highlights an issue that too few of us are aware of and puts the spotlight onto an issue that needs to be addressed by western society if we can ever hope of moving forward, not only with health care but with women’s rights.

You can read my interview with director Shelby Hadden here.